She reached the seventh floor that seemed like another world. The floor was too clean, too quiet. She missed the liveliness of the lower floors. Standing there didn't reduce the unfamiliarity of her new surroundings so she decided to head inside. She chose one of the several empty rooms at random and entered. 

The doorway she'd stepped through was the only reminder that she was standing in a room. She would have been confused otherwise, thinking she'd just stepped onto another plane. She was standing on the edge of an island and not just any island. It was a floating island: high up in the sky. She stepped back quickly and found herself back on firm ground in the sword tower. 

'The seventh level is going to be awesome.' 

Her eyes shined with excitement. But a small part of her feared what was to come as she stepped back through the door. She walked through half of a destroyed abandoned city overgrown with vegetation. There were ossified remains of unfortunate folk strewn all over. She picked her way through the destruction until she finally found another source of life on the otherwise desolate island. 

In the centre of the city stood a stone table. Behind it, a young girl paced up and down mumbling in frustration.

'I cannot remember. I cannot for the life of me remember. What do i do? I cannot remember.'

She spotted bai li yue and stopped her hurried steps to consider the newest arrival.

'Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!' 

Her voice twinkled as she forgot herself. She flashed closer and touched a lock of Bai li yue's hair in admiration. 

'Hahaa! I haven't beheld such beauty in-' 

her laughter petered out in the next second. She forgot Bai li yue's presence and went back to pacing up and down.

'- the knot. Can it be untied or not? I can't remember. I can't for the life of me remember.' 

She walked back to the stone table and picked up a piece of charcoal and drew lines on the stone table. But she stopped halfway through her drawing and threw the charcoal to the ground.

'Wrong! Wrong again.' 

'Is there something I can help you with?' 

Bai li yue inched closer. Her voice pulled the young girl out of her deluded state.

'You- you wish to help me?' 

She asked, looking puzzled.

'I'll try.'

She motioned Bai li yue to come closer. The table held a set of small white stones and some pieces of charcoal.

'This is the game of a bygone age. Forged from the twisted mind of a cruel slave master. I must place nine stones so they lie on eight straight roads. There must be three stones on each road. I cannot remember how to untie this knot. Can you help me?'

Bai li yue picked up a piece of charcoal and drew a square

'Three stones on each line.' 

She repeated the riddle under her breath and drew two perpendicular lines from each other. 

Where do I draw the next line?

Her hesitation drew the ire of the young girl who screamed in fury.

'Fool! Is this a joke to you?'

She quieted down when Bai li yue erased the lines and tried again using another linear configuration.

'This is worse than the first one. I will kill you, you stupid girl. You hear me? I will kill you!'

Bai li yue stopped in her tracks at the threats being hurled at her by the girl.

'What? Why? Why are you stopping? Didn't you say you'd help me?'

'I did, but you just threatened to kill me.'

'Did i? You've misunderstood. I'm simply giving you motivation to try harder.'

'It didn't sound like motivation to me. I think you meant it.'

'Alright already. I promise I won't kill you if you help me. Can we continue now?'

Bai li yue cocked her head to the side and studied the table again. She wasn't drawing any more lines until she was sure she'd found the solution. After tens of minutes of drawing in the air and shaking her head she finally came upon the solution. She quickly drew a series of intersecting lines. The girl watched with rising glee as Bai li yue placed the nine white stones on the appropriate places. Her voice rose to unnatural heights.

'You did it! You really did it. I remember! I remember now. Bei Xiang, you bastard! When I get out of this place, I'll come and find you! You just wait. Even if you are dead, you won't escape me. I'll find your bones and gnaw them to powder. You just wait until i get out!'

She returned to herself with an uneasy laugh when she noticed Bai li yue standing there listening to her rant.

'Thank you. Thank you. You have saved my life. I don't know how to repay you.'

Bai li yue was currently feeling a little bit worried. She'd been willing to help the young girl thinking it was part of the seventh floor test. But she suspected now that she'd made a mistake. The girl's voice was too loud and her behaviour; at times uncannily discordant to that of a young girl.

'Are you a prisoner here? Did i just free you?'

'Don't worry. Solving one riddle isn't enough to set me free. Bei Xiang, that bastard of the sword heaven sect won't let me go that easily.'

'Then do you know what the test is?'

'Test? What test?'

The girl looked truly confused.

'The test in the sword tower .'

'Ah! What level are you on?'

'The seventh level.'

'Seventh level? At least the bastard has a conscience. I would have cut him into pieces and roasted him alive  if he had imprisoned me on a lower floor.'

Once again, the girl's words were at odds with how she looked. Bai li yue was almost certain that the girl in front of her wasn't a real girl. Was it an illusion or a clever disguise?

The girl caught herself again and grinned. Her hand pressed down on the stone table. It emitted a loud crack and crumbled to pieces revealing a large compartment underneath. The girl took out a sword and stroked the blade like it was a long lost friend.

Bai li yue unstrapped her black sword and stood at the ready for the fight to commence. The girl sneered and whirled around as her laughter twinkled like wind chimes in the wind. 

Before her stood a copy of herself sporting similar features down to the same hair. 

'Don't i look simply amazing? I think I'll adopt this look for the next century or so.'

She ran a hand through her flowing locks, turning it auburn. Fortunately, the copy's voice was different.  

'If you can receive my ten attacks, you'll pass the test. I'm going to write a song about this moment. Please tell me your name so I can remember you. I hope it rhymes with 'worthy adversary'.'

She didn't know how she felt about a person who looked like her in the same world and a perfect copy at that. It would be unsettling if this copy entered into the wider world.

'Shall we let our blades do the talking instead?'

'Prepare yourself. Here i come.' 

The sword thrummed in excitement and a second later ignited in roiling flames. Heat rolled off the sword blade and raised the temperature in their immediate surroundings. The fake bai li yue kicked off the ground with one foot. She made an abrupt turn and shot down like an arrow. Bai li yue raised her sword and calmly met the attack. The clash forced her backwards leaving a hundred foot trail. Wincing in pain, she slashed the air in front of her to cancel out the force. There was so much power concealed within the single attack. She had fought phantom warriors at the late and the peak of the master realm. She'd also successfully fought against phantom savage beasts of peak master realm and early lord realm, but this was the first time she couldn't see a chance to obtain a win. The adversary was at worse, a late lord realm cultivator. She was too strong. 

'You're far too weak. At this rate, there's no chance of you winning. Since you helped me, and I am grateful, I will reduce my strength by a third.'

'There is no need.'

'You won't be able to beat me if i use my full strength. Even using two thirds of my strength will be difficult for you. Don't refuse my gratitude, girl.'

Bai li yue sighed. She knew her situation better than anyone. Losing wasn't an option. She had no more sect points left after booking this session on the seventh floor. The sword in the girl's hand thrummed, expressing its displeasure when she withdrew some of the flames surrounding. 

'Are you ready?' 

Bai li yue took a deep breath and steadied herself.

'I'm ready.'

Her fake self exploded into movement, appearing a breath later in front of her. The flaming sword smashed down in an arc. The shadow sword rose to block the attack and Bai li yue was driven to her knees as she held off the attack. Between the sword and the flames, the latter was doing more damage. Her robe and the skin that came in close contact with the flames were scorched. The smell of searing hair and the constant pain accompanying each strike put Bai li yue at a disadvantage. She planted her feet in the ground and raised her sword. The blade descended one last time. She weathered the pain until the heat disappeared. The girl withdrew to a distance and watched Bai li yue with a dispassionate eye.

'I have repaid my debt to you. I won't be kind if we meet again.' 

She threw the warning over her shoulder, disappearing into thin air. Bai li yue rocked back and forth leaning on her sword. The floating island slowly returned to its original form. A semi transparent screen displayed her results at which point she sank to the floor of the large room. 

She stayed in the room for the rest of the month cultivating. The threshold to step into the lord realm was holding strong. 

'If I can't enter the lord realm soon, then I'll have to forget earning points in the sword tower.'

She hadn't reached even halfway up the twenty floor tower and she'd already hit a roadblock. There was no use sitting in the sword tower when the cultivation tower was better suited to solving her problem.