Bai li yue woke up some days later, sore and weak from her reckless move. She hadn't known that reaching out and destroying the copy of herself was tantamount to attacking her part of herself. Her soul had been injured in the process forcing the alchemy chief to expend a precious soul restoring pill to bring her back from the brink. They couldn't have a newcomer dying on them like that. Du shan, the attendant who came running to her side filled her in on her situation. He also handed her a bill for the pill used on her.

'17000 sect points?' 

Bail ki yue had a sudden headache when she read the piece of paper. 

Sect points again.

They'd been her bane during her time in the Thousand bamboo immortal sect until she had refused to deal with them. 

'Pills that affect the soul are normally very expensive.' 

He spoke with a natural cheer 

'If you work hard it will take you at most twenty years to pay back everything.'

He watched over her until she was well enough to leave the sick bay. During that time, she'd learned a lot about the sect. She'd been automatically made a member of the sword river sect where the alchemy chief was. 

Du shan laughed when he told her how the elder had insisted on her joining his sect for fear that she might refuse to pay if she joined the sword mountain sect. He also told her that she had already gained a reputation in the sect. People were already calling her the crazy red witch. 

'Crazy red witch? Why?'

'You were covered in a lot of blood and honestly, the scene was very scary. I don't know about the witch part.'

He was an inner sect student who had taken a sect mission to guide new students. Thanks to her injury, his mission was delayed but fortunately it wouldn't count against him.

Once she got better to leave the sick bay, he took her to the operations office to finalise her registration. She paid a registration fee and rent for her courtyard that set her back by a huge amount. She realised that it was another difference between a three star sect and a one star sect. Back in the Thousand bamboo immortal sect, students didn't have to pay rent or any such thing. She collected her student badge, uniforms, keys to her courtyard as well as a student prospectus. 

Du shan took her on a circuitous tour of the main buildings in the sect and pointed out the sword tower giving her a bit of an introduction. She could find more information on it in the prospectus.

'You have to pay to use the sword tower, but in your current condition, i advise you to rest and regain your strength or you will be wasting the few points you have in your badge and gain nothing in return.'

The cultivation tower was adjacent to the sword tower.

'The cultivation tower is always full of people all the time. Make sure you earn a lot of sect points so that you can go there to cultivate for a long time. You'll see more progress that way.'

The sword cave and the library were places all new inner sect members had to visit. First to choose a sword and second to choose two sword skills.

She heard whispers about her that amused her as they neared the training area. It was smack in the centre of the sect in view of the mission building. Both places were teeming with people and many of them recognised her as the red witch. She ignored the looks and asked about the mission building. Since she was determined to be a normal student, she had to live with the system. 

'Du shan, what kinds of missions are best for earning sect points?'

He scratched his head. 

'Pill testing. There's no argument about that, but people grab those missions the minute they appear.'

Bai li yue wasn't interested in being a guinea pig for some mad alchemist. On the other hand, she had a debt of 17000 sect points so she couldn't afford to be choosy.

'Anything else?'

'You could pay your debt in seven years if you only took only pill testing missions, but they are too scarce. You could try taking hunting missions, but it won't be as profitable as pill testing because the good paying missions are group based.'

'Isn't there another way?'

'The sword tower has rewards for climbing the floors. Aside from the mission building, it offers the best rewards. But climbing the tower is difficult and dangerous. Only a few people are able to use it as a way to gain points.'

Bai li yue had seen enough for the time being. What she didn't know, she was confident of learning eventually.  Du shan led her to her courtyard and bid her farewell. His work was finally done. She sat in her one room courtyard enclosed by a wall and read the prospectus cover to cover. It was possible to take various missions such as those given by the different divisions. The missions for the alchemy division included growing herbs, finding herbs in the wild or pill testing. The weaponmaster division's missions were limited to forging. They needed only strong men to man their furnaces and mold weapons. The operations division was by far the division that gave out the most missions. They took bounties and missions from nearby towns and cities that needed criminals dealt with or resources that they couldn't find themselves. 

By morning, she had the bare bones of a plan. The sword tower was indeed difficult and dangerous to climb, but it offered more rewards the higher one climbed. The floors above the tenth floor were the point where the tower started offering better rewards. She would earn a thousand sect points if she  reached the tenth floor and each floor after that was more incentivising.

'The sword tower is definitely the better option. I can practise my sword and earn points at the same time. What's not to like?'

Before she went to work, she made a visit to the library and the sword cave. She browsed the collection on the two floors open to her before leaving empty handed. The ten sect points she had in her badge would go making more points in the sword tower.

When she reached the sword cave, she recognised the elder sitting at the mouth of the cave. It was the same elder who had overseen the test. 

'Greetings elder, i'm here to choose a sword.'

'Eh! Aren't you the one they call the red witch?'

Now, even elders were calling her by that name? 

She grimaced.

'Are you aggrieved? Isn't it better than being called an ignorant chick? Next time, if you don't know something, ask questions. You'll live longer that way. Go in and choose your sword.'

The man was right. She hadn't to admit it but she'd taken the exam without knowing much of what was going on. She had done the same thing at the wall. Almost losing her life in the process. She thanked the elder for his wise words. 

'Elder, please tell me how to choose the sword?'

'Normally, i will just kick you into the river, but since i told you to ask questions, I'll answer just this once. If you ever ask me another question instead of going to the library, I won't care if you are a child, i'll kick you.'

Once she nodded, he answered

'You are able to choose any sword that resonates with you. Most people are able to choose their sword, but there are a few who are chosen by their sword. It depends on what kind you are. Anyway take a look around the cave and see. Remember to choose only one sword. If you make a mistake and take more than one, you know what i'll do to you?'

'You'll kick me into the river.'

'Ha! You'll deserve more than that. I'll kick you into the mountain over there', 

he said pointing at the mountain that was home to the sword mountain sect on the other side of the river, 'and then I'll kick you into the river.'

She got the gist. For an elder of a sect with a sword in the name, he spoke too much about kicking. 

She entered what appeared to be a tunnel after stepping past him. The tunnel descended into the earth for a few metres before opening into a natural system of caves. The view of countless swords in front of her was striking. They were jammed into the floors, walls and roof in the caves. There were swords of all styles and sizes, swords of differing metals and colours, exotic swords,  rusted swords, polished swords, elemental swords, and broken swords that had lost their spirituality. Bai li yue was overwhelmed.

How do I go about choosing one amidst this sea of choices? 

Everywhere she turned, she saw a weapon that caught her eye. A crystal sword shimmered amid a host of swords. It pushed back a few steps when she stretched her hand to touch it. 

Is that a no?

She moved on, going deeper into the cave system. Three swords of gold meteor iron, blue silver metal and blood metal caught her eye. They glowed and hummed in harmony as she walked closer. All three swords had the same etchings on their blade. 

'Do all three count as one sword?' 

The humming turned shrill the closer she came until she had to cover her ears before her eardrums exploded. She quickly retreated, bumping her knee on a heavy sword that gleamed blood red and emitted thirsty savagery. 

In the next cave, she found another sword. It was a silver sword with a bamboo hilt. She touched it with a hesitant hand. Her hand closed around the hilt and still nothing happened. Finally. She exerted energy to pull it out of the wall but it remained fixed without moving. Using two hands to pull still didn't result in the blade shifting. She gave up after an hour of exertion.

Passing through another cave, a blue hilted sword with a bone white blade coursed through the air and hovered in front of her, spinning on its tip with eager anticipation. She stared at the sword in wonder. It was a nice looking sword. But just as she put out her hand to take hold of the hilt, she noticed something at the corner of her eye. A black sword was there a second ago. Right? She'd seen it. It wasn't just a figment of her imagination. Right?

She looked closer but found nothing, just a shadow. 

'Wait. Did i say shadow?'

She crept closer while keeping her eyes on the shadow. How could there be a shadow when there was no sword to cast a shadow? 

'I guess it's possible if the sword is invisible.'

She passed her hand through where a sword might be and came away empty handed. 

'This is crazy!'

There had to be a sword. She was sure of it. Unless…

She reached out and grabbed the shadow itself. Her hand gained purchase on something hard and cold. The shadow coalesced into a black sword that blinked and blurred from sight. She looked back at the floating bone white sword, which reminded her of an excited puppy. 

'Sorry, i like this one better.'

She preferred the silence of the shadow sword. It was understated and inconspicuous. For some reason, that was more appealing to her. 

It was night time when she came back out the old man was nowhere in sight but she felt a pair of eyes scan her body before the feeling  disappeared. She was holding a black sword in her hand. Its form was still blurred, but its cold weight felt in her hand.