In the darkness of the cell, neither light nor the energy of heaven and earth can reach the room, as if completely cut off from the world outside. Even sound is suppressed by formations that, while I can observe them, are too complex for me to understand without a functional Inner World.

This isolation is to such an extreme degree that my perception cannot even go beyond the walls. I am certain that this prison is some kind of alternate world — a pocket dimension similar to the technology operating those storage devices, perhaps even the same mechanism behind my Inner World. I am certain of this, but I have no proof.

By my estimate, it has been only an hour since Lan Xiaohui was thrown into this cell, and though there is no visible iron and chain, my owner is trapped and bound by them — they are merely invisible.

I thought that this was very similar to Eternal Red’s prison, but refrain from mentioning it to my owner. Her mental state is still unstable — I still find it surprising that my owner’s Dao Heart, which is usually exceptionally strong, is so fragile when it concerns Yu Shun — but I attribute this fact to the demonic art that Lan Xiaohui referenced once: [Heart Sacrifice Sutra].

After all, it seems very unnatural that my owner is so determined to kill Yu Shun, and so fragile in his presence. Even the fact that she killed those disciples, while plausible, seems slightly out of the ordinary.

However, with her duel with Yu Shun fast approaching, it would be counter-productive to further erode her mental state.

Perhaps some maintenance is in order, but I am not certain how to perform it if this place is completely cut off from qi. Natural energy — drawn from the laws of stone, metal, and the formations — is one way, but I do not know how to cultivate it myself, therefore I would be of no assistance even if we cultivated together.

Since it has come this far, I ponder using my [Dematerialize] ability to swallow this entire pocket world, but such drastic measures are not yet necessary. After all, Lan Xiaohui can still retreat into my Inner Realm and cultivate in peace.

Eventually, the door appears again — this time in a different place from before — and haloed by light, Mu Jingyu, of all people, walks into my owner’s cell, surprising my owner.

“You are…” Lan Xiaohui whispers, uncertain if she is seeing an illusion or reality.

“Zhu Xuelian…” Mu Jingyu also whispers, as the door behind her disappears and plunges the cell into darkness once more.

“Why… are you here?” Lan Xiaohui asks, shifting her position to appear more elegant before the first-ranked disciple of the Frozen Peak Palace. All she can do is sit on the floor — there is no furniture here — but at the very least she can sit in a proper position.

“I… I couldn’t help it,” Mu Jingyu says, moving to stand in front of my owner, and then also sitting down on the ground. “I wanted to know why… you killed those people. Who are they to you? Was it really because they offended you?”

Lan Xiaohui stares at Mu Jingyu and slowly realizes what is driving the person across from her. The same thing that attracted her attention in the first place — it is that pure and genuine sword force clinging to the green-eyed sword maiden.

An upright, righteous cultivator; selfless to a fault with a heart that is like an open book. In essence, the same as my owner, just with less hurt and past trauma.

“I have nothing to do with them,” Lan Xiaohui says. “Before today, I’ve never seen them before.”

“Then… why?” Mu Jingyu asks, eyes wide and filled with moisture. “Your sword is so clean and pretty. I don’t understand how someone like you can be so…”

Cruel? Savage? Dark? Mu Jingyu never finishes her thought, but there are many qualifiers to describe Lan Xiaohui’s sword from earlier.

“They hurt my friend,” Lan Xiaohui says. “They hurt her very badly; even now, she is suffering because of them. She will keep suffering, even though they are now dead. That is why.”

Mu Jingyu’s eyes widen even more and then she closes them and lowers her head.

“They were bad people,” Lan Xiaohui says. “They were devils.”

“Are you a devil too?” Mu Jingyu asks, her green gaze once more focusing on my owner’s black and red eyes.

This question catches Lan Xiaohui off-guard.

“I don’t know,” Lan Xiaohui says, tone changing slightly. “I don’t think so, but I wish I could become one. That is why you shouldn’t be here. Why did you even come? Does your sect know you are here?”

Mu Jingyu shakes her head. “They don’t know,” she says. “I came of my own desire. I just wanted to see you and to understand you. I don’t know why, but I feel a strange familiarity with you — I cannot really explain it. It feels like I know you.”

Lan Xiaohui smiles. “I felt the same way,” Lan Xiaohui says. “Maybe we were friends in our past life.”

“Maybe,” Mu Jingyu says. “What are you going to do now? They want you to fight Yu Shun; but how? He is almost in the peak stage of Nascent Soul Ascension. You are not even in the peak of Core Formation.”

Lan Xiaohui shrugs. She is also uncertain about the future now. Back when she joined the Galaxy Sword sect, Yu Shun was only in the Core Formation. His cultivation was so fast that it was inexplicable. Killing a Nascent Soul Ascension demonic beast was one thing, but killing a cultivator who had martial arts was a completely different thing.

“I don’t know,” Lan Xiaohui says. “I will just have to wait and see, but no matter what, I will kill Yu Shun. Even if I have to die too.”

Mu Jingyu’s frown deepens even more. “I see.”

After some brief hesitation, Mu Jingyu withdraws a jade tablet from her ring and offers it to Lan Xiaohui. “Will this help?”

Lan Xiaohui blinks and then touches the tablet with her fingertips. She is so shocked by what she finds inside that she recoils back.

[Glacier Breaking Sword].

“Jingyu, this is…” Lan Xiaohui whispers.

Mu Jingyu chuckles. “You called me by name. Can I also call you Xuelian?”

Lan Xiaohui nods, too distracted by the shock to really comprehend what she or Mu Jingyu just said.

Once more, Mu Jingyu offers the tablet to Lan Xiaohui. “Take it.”

Lan Xiaohui recovers from the initial shock and places her hand on top of the tablet. Then her other hand joins under Mu Jingyu’s hand, and my owner slowly closes Mu Jingyu’s hand.

“Sister Mu, I am eternally grateful to you, but I can’t accept this. This is your sect’s legacy. Even if I accepted and used it to kill Yu Shun, your sect would not let me live,” Lan Xiaohui says.

“Let me worry about the sect,” Mu Jingyu says. “Also, I liked it more when you called me by name.”

“Si— Jingyu,” Lan Xiaohui corrects herself, smiling with a slight blush on her cheeks. “Thank you. Really. But I still cannot accept it.”

Mu Jingyu frowns and nods. “I just don’t want you to die.”

Lan Xiaohui smiles. “I don’t want to die either. I promised Wu Yulan I wouldn’t throw my life away,” Lan Xiaohui says. “But I am not helpless either. I am not as weak as I used to be.”

“But still… Yu Shun is…”

Lan Xiaohui shakes her head. “Jingyu, whether I will live or die, no one knows for sure. But if I live, I want to be friends with you.”

“And if you don’t?” Mu Jingyu asks.

“Then I will be friends with you in my next life.”