Shen duyi chose a platform at random when they passed through the portal after which several students scrambled to join them, crowding and shoving till the platform elder called them to order.

The elder smiled in approval when he overheard the good news. Shen duyi accepted the goodwill as he pulled her to sit next to him.

"Did you also gain something good while in the domain?"

He asked softly. 

Bai li yue shook her head. She wasn't ready to inform anyone of her good fortune. By the look of things, their minds would be blown if she showed them the legacy in her hand. Her achievement would overshadow Shen duyi's and hurl her into the limelight. She wasn't ready for that kind of attention. That wasn't the reason why she'd joined the sword river sect. 

"My gains are nothing like yours."

"It's okay. Even if you didn't find anything, entering the domain is still a good thing. I know many people who didn't find anything."

He smiled in stilted embarrassment as he tried to comfort her. 

The moment passed as they settled in. Bai li yue thought it would be a quiet journey but hours later, she watched in amazement as students competed to curry favour with Shen duyi. 

Was he really that great? 

She slowly distanced herself from him to escape the zone of fervour. Despite distancing herself, Shen duyi's attentiveness was giving her a headache. She could feel the hateful looks whenever he engaged her in conversation during the moments when he wasn't being endlessly solicited.

'I'm fine. Go back to what you were doing.'

She assured him with some difficulty before closing her eyes to meditate by force.

Shen duyi frowned but his attention was called elsewhere. Someone was asking him again for cultivation advice.

The platforms floated over the abyss slowly, avoiding turbulence and weathering the shocks that threatened to throw everyone overboard. Eventually, their destination appeared in the distance. The tense atmosphere surrounding the platform dispersed with a collective sigh of relief. 

The docking took place safely and once again, Shen duyi was surrounded by his admirers. 

She was finally back.

Not wishing to attract anymore attention to herself, Bai li yue left the sword mountain sect square with a purposeful stride. She had to get a new badge to replace the one she'd lost in the abyss, before she could sell the treasures she found for sect points. 

The process was rapid and she soon had a brand new sect badge in her hand. Lucky for her, the information contained in her old badge was up to date including her sect points and unfortunately her debt. She now wished all the information had been lost.

The mission square was alive with noise when she arrived. Students were stationed near the mission building to facilitate the transactions. A student came up to her and led her to a set up counter manned by an elder. The treasures she wanted to trade in appeared in her hand. The first was a stack of manuals of various martial skills that had varying degrees of wear and tear and a ring. The elder made an inventory of the manuals after a quick perusal before bringing the ring he'd put on the counter closer to his eye to better inspect it. It was a blood red ring she'd dug out of the ground. There were unfamiliar runes running around the inside of the band that felt hot to the touch. He placed the ring into a box and made a note of the features. 

The last item she placed on the counter caused his eyes to widen. It was a pair of carved wooden figures, both holding spears. He turned them over in his hand and nodded at the craftsmanship before making a final note. She got a modest sum of five thousand and twenty points. It was almost the equivalent of a year's reward climbing the sword tower. 

All in all Bai li yue was satisfied with her gains and her earnings. She had a legacy, a skill for disguising herself and a few treasures set aside for her personal use. Her business done, she returned to her courtyard.

"Bai li yue, i heard you went missing. What happened?"

Meixiu asked the minute she stepped into the courtyard.

"You already heard?"

News sure travelled fast. Too fast. She gave an edited version of the attack, but had to stop midway when Meixiu smacked the table.

"Bastard! Why didn't you tell Brother Shen? He would have taken care of him."

"It's okay. He won't be able to do anything even if he knew, anyway."

"But-"

"I said it's okay. I'll take care of my problems myself. Aren't you going to ask what i got you?"

Meixiu had brought along some ingredients for cooking so she went into the kitchen to prepare something. They spent the rest of the day talking. Meixiu oohed and aahed at the figurine Bai li yue gave her. The statuette had risen in value when Bai li yue explained its use. It was a carved wooden figurine similar to the two she'd traded in. Injecting one's spiritual energy into the mark at the bottom of the figurines was the only way to claim ownership of it. Once summoned, the figurine would grow into an eight foot warrior to aid its owner in battle. She'd found five statuettes hidden behind a fake wall inside an already ransacked vault. She'd sold two and given Meixiu the third one. The two remaining statuettes would act as her guards. 

Bai li yue was happy with the two figurines, but was even happier with the treasure she'd found at the bottom of a stagnant pool. She hadn't gotten the chance to test it out but she had an idea of how the treasure worked. If she was right, then the necklace with the onyx pendant she'd found had more secrets than met the eye. The intricate layers of arrays in the chain and the pendant. They intertwined in beautiful writing to form the word abode. 

When Meixiu returned to the outer sect, Bai li yue injected her spiritual energy into the pendant and claimed ownership of it. 

She smiled from ear to ear. So that was it. Her conjecture was accurate. She returned it to her ring where it would remain till the day it was needed. 

The cultivation tower was bustling with life when she arrived in the morning. Those who'd earned points from trading treasures they'd found were eager to use them. Also those who had found legacies were looking for a place to digest what they had gained. The lower floors were teeming with people, but the case was different on the eighth floor. The gathering place of the sword tower leaders was deserted and Bai li yue, who had gotten into the habit of catching up on sect news with them before cultivating, had no choice but to get to work.

The soul sword formula was her sole motivation for entering the cultivation tower immediately upon her return instead of hurrying over to the sword tower like many others who wished to try out their new skills. She'd memorised the formula during the months she'd spent reciting it on the island. The next step according to little white was to familiarise herself with the formula in such a way that it became a part of her. 

Bai li yue entered a cultivation room for seven months.

She spent the rest of the year in the cultivation tower, only stepping out to catch a breath of fresh air. 

There was still no sign of Lei huojin or Tan fu. On one of her breaks, she met the legendary drunken hero who was now at ninth position following Lei huojin's misfortunate exit from the leaderboard.

"Are you serious? How did Lei huojin become an elder-in-training?"

"Yes. I think Shen duyi recommended him for the position. The elder in charge of inter sect affairs has accepted him as his disciple. Lei huojin is set to become a sect ambassador. He'd be a fool to refuse the generous offer."

"And Tan fu?"

"He called Lei huojin a coward and left for the sword tower."

Bai li yue sighed. The situation surprised her a bit but then again, she wasn't Lei huojin. She couldn't begin to understand the various decisions that had led him to take off his sect robe to dorn the elder-in-training outfit. Why try? He'd made his decision. That didn't make him any less her friend. 

She never got a chance to meet Tan fu, even when she ended her cultivation and moved to the sword tower. 

The tests in the sword tower were as challenging as she'd expected. She met the girl again on the ninth floor and was able to squeak by thanks to the soul sword formula. Practicing it had given her a new understanding of combat. Her dancing lights skill was rooted in quick, gentle strikes and deceptive actions while the crimson fire blade was eye catching violent and domineering. It made her actions jerky as she moved from one style to another without any intermediaries. It was like trying to combine water and fire. To balance the two styles, the soul sword formula's brutality and its light touch served as an example. She learned to bridge the gap between both styles through months and months of hard work and failure.