The Icy Sword Formation had an extremely cold environment, but on this particular visit it is even colder. Several changes occurred to my internal world between the last visit and this one. Above the heavens, the crown of a tree could be seen, as distant from the lake as the moon is. Beyond the crown of the tree and over the eastern horizon, the outline of a sword can also be observed.

The name Inner World Sphere refers to the array that governs the operation of my Devoured Worlds Sphere which is an actual object within my spiritual vessel, and this is made most obvious by the fact that changes to my internal configuration have effects on the manifestation of this array.

After all, the array itself is a method to simulate the world by operating on the consciousness of the user.

None of these things, however, bother Lan Xiaohui. I am not even certain if she has noticed the tree or the outline of the sword in the distance. My owner, despite sometimes using my [Nooparallelism] talent, has a mind that prefers to focus on only one task, and she will only engage in concurrent streams of thought if that one task requires such — like fighting multiple opponents.

She is entirely focused on the waterfall which is a few dozen steps away from her. It is only thanks to her Emptiness Prana that she does not panic just being this close to the Icy Sword Qi water.

The waterfall does not produce much noise, which is already strange in itself, but what little noise it does make sounds like a sword carving through paper. Even this sound is filled with sword Qi and cuts at the Dao Heart of those who hear it. It is very similar to my [Tyranny], but rather than mind control — how I assume it works — it works through posing a real threat.

Even though Lan Xiaohui knows that dying here will only be painful and not fatal in the real world, the thought of being torn apart by that waterfall is enough for her to conclude that the experience of being quartered by demonic wolves evaluates to a good time in comparison.

She hesitates.

To me, the waterfall does not pose much of a threat and the reason is both simple and also not simple. On the most basic level, my Physique is leaps and bounds ahead of Lan Xiaohui’s. Simulated Wukong’s punch was enough to crush her internal organs while doing no damage to me, even though my vessel took the brunt of the impact.

Steel prevails where flesh fails, but that is not the only reason. My understanding of the Dao of Sword is so vast that I can detect each particle of Sword Qi within the waterfall at any moment and precisely counter it with my own.

I doubt Lan Xiaohui has the mental capacity to achieve even the detection step of this process.

Lan Xiaohui, on the other hand, has something that I do not possess, and its quality is a wildcard in my calculation — meaning, its effects cannot be predicted. She has instinct. My understanding of the world is through scientific formula and observation; Lan Xiaohui’s is through intuition. And if there is one thing I know about Lan Xiaohui, it is that she possesses monstrous intuition.

Finally, Lan Xiaohui exhales and nods, having gathered the determination to make the attempt. She walks forward at a pace that is meant to trick her into believing that she is confident and eager, but the closer she gets, the slower she walks.

By the time she reaches the edge of the waterfall, she has all but stopped.

This close to the waterfall, the idea to attempt this without sword Qi seems beyond foolish to my owner.

After a few more seconds of hesitation, she takes a deep breath and steps forward.

Her Domain appears immediately and the flow of water in her vicinity slows down by about 80%. At any given instant, five to six sparks appear in the air as invisible swords clash and repel each other. Even having only set her foot into the path of the waterfall, the mental load on my owner is already overwhelming.

But she steps further into the waterfall, and the velocity of its flow decreases even more.

85%. 90%. 93%.

I recognize immediately that this is not the effect of my owner’s Domain — at least not exclusively — but a function of the waterfall to calibrate to the person within it.

It is a wonderful design that I have not anticipated.

It takes Lan Xiaohui ten minutes to advance to the edge of the outer quarter of the waterfall, at which point she stops. This far into the waterfall, her mental load exceeds her capacity and she enters a strange state of trance. I do not detect a thread of active consciousness within her, however, her mind commands sword Qi to such precision that she can instantly counter the sharp Qi in the waterfall, producing up to twenty sparks at any given instant simultaneously. In other words, she is repelling anywhere between sixteen to twenty attacks at any given moment.

Given that she is in a state of martial trance, I understand the purpose of this waterfall and the training that it provides.

In normal combat situations, one has to be aware of their surroundings; not only environmental obstacles, but even such miscellaneous things like changes in air pressure and temperature can be distracting. Here, in this formation, the cold is constant, and there are no obstacles or opponents.

In that regard, and faced with the imminent threat of immediate termination, a cultivator can exert their full physical and mental capabilities towards the simple task of not getting dismembered by a waterfall.

In other words, this waterfall is designed to induce this state of martial trance and to rapidly improve one’s control over sword Qi. Perhaps it can even train the ability to enter this same state of martial trance outside of ideal conditions.

Six and a half minutes after entering this trance state, Lan Xiaohui’s body suddenly turns into reddish-pink mist, and then we both reappear on the stone platform outside the Formation.

Her eyes blink open and it is clear that she is confused about her change of environment.

“I died?” she asks.

“Correct,” I tell her.

Lan Xiaohui swallows nervously and then nods. “I did not even feel it,” she says.

Considering how quickly her body had been transformed into a different phase of matter, it does not surprise me at all that she did not feel a thing.

Lan Xiaohui looks at her trembling hands with such a smile that I am not certain if it is excitement she is feeling or terror. “This Formation… it is really amazing,” she says. “It feels as if I was sparring Lady Yue for days without taking a break.”

Lan Xiaohui’s words are both troubling and exciting. She has mentioned, the previous time, that sects did have Formations like this, but that they were much weaker. How valuable would it be to have a Formation that could simulate in a few minutes what fighting someone like Lady Yue is for days?

Considering that Lady Yue and the sparring sessions were the other components of Lan Xiaohui’s incredible swordsmanship progress, then the value of such a Formation would be difficult to quantify.

The rewards for clearing this layer’s challenge not only promised priority access to the Mystic Sword Formations but also other, improved versions.

The Icy Sword Formation would not be beneficial to me, but perhaps these other ones could help me achieve a new level of capability.

“You should return and attempt it again,” I tell Lan Xiaohui. It might not happen on the first try, but I need my owner to achieve second place in the upcoming challenge to unlock the Secret Sword Realm Nexus.

Lan Xiaohui nods. She doesn’t need any convincing. No one knows better than Lan Xiaohui how spending a few minutes under that waterfall has helped her in her cultivation.

This time, she does not hesitate.