Thirteen

Unaware of the actions of Xu Xiaoqing, Xu Yue sat down on a meditation mat, thoughts going through her mind.

'I should begin cultivating again, otherwise, those one hundred years that I spent relaxed would be totally pointless,' thought Xu Yue as she sunk into meditation, wanting to practice her sword arts.

After a few moments though, Xu Yue's mind became totally empty of nearly all thoughts, as she merely stood there, staring into the distance, memories from the past flashing through her mind as she spaced out without even realizing it.

Slowly but surely though, Xu Yue went through all of her memories, leaving her with only nothingness.

Without Xu Yue even realizing it, by this point, the world around her disappeared, being replaced by pitch-black nothingness.

Though, after an uncountable amount of time, Xu Yue finally found something inside the infinite nothingness.

At this moment, Xu Yue did not even realize the state she was in, if she had realized it, she would have accidentally broken out of it after only a few moments.

As time passed, more and more lights appeared through the endless nothingness, seemingly trapping Xu Yue inside of them.

An unknowable amount of time had passed since Xu Yue had closed her eyes, was it millions of years, or was it perhaps an even longer time?

But although this was the case, Xu Yue did not feel much, feeling only a certain indifference.

Even as she looked at the enormous being, which was about to devour Heaven and Earth, as well as the infinite reality, no emotion appeared inside Xu Yue's mind.

Slash

At a speed far beyond time, a sword suddenly struck the monster.

The moment the sword struck the monster, an infinitely large part of its body was suddenly annihilated, being erased from existence.

But even so, the body of this monster was beyond all other concepts, even though an infinitely large part of its body was cut off, nothing seemed to actually happen to it, as it continued devouring reality without change.

Suddenly, thirteen lights appeared beside Xu Yue, launching themselves into her body, and causing her to snap out of her thoughts as she heard the sound of something seemingly breaking apart.

...

As she opened her eyes and stared at the surrounding room, which had remained completely unchanged, a rather surprised look appeared on Xu Yue's face.

"Nine years have passed," mumbled Xu Yue as she instinctively felt the flow of time.

Right now, although only a very short amount of time had actually passed, Xu Yue felt somewhat different.

Although she could not tell what the difference was.

Without warning, Xu Yue's spiritual sense suddenly spread out from her body, quickly enveloping an utterly huge area.

"It's still the same," mumbled Xu Yue as she then turned her attention toward her sea of consciousness.

Looking at the huge tree in the middle of her Sea of Consciousness, as well as at the extremely large fruit in its middle, a faint frown appeared on Xu Yue's face.

Although the tree looked nearly identical with the Dao Tree which Xu Yue had nine years ago, Xu Yue felt as though something about it was faintly different.

"Ancestor, did something happen?" asked Xu Yue without turning her head around.

Hearing Xu Yue's words, Xu Lanfeng, who had just appeared behind her, slightly frowned.

"You could sense me?" asked Xu Lanfeng, slightly frowning as she looked at her descendant with a confused look on her face.

...

Inside an extremely hidden dimension stood an enormous eye, one which surpassed all mortal concepts.

Suddenly, the pupil of the Heavenly Dao Eye moved, as it began looking around, searching for the being which had just spied on it.

Sadly for the Heavenly Dao, no matter how hard it searched, it could not find the being who had spied on it.

...

Although she had heard the question of her ancestor, Xu Yue did not answer it, as she simply stared at the wall in front of her.

"This was simple, too simple," mumbled Xu Yue as she took her sword sheath from her robe, now holding it in her hands.

Seeing this, the frown on Xu Lanfeng's face grew even further in size, but rather surprisingly, she did not say anything.

"Ancestor, you can have this, it is no longer suitable for me," said Xu Yue as she handed the sheath, as well s the sword inside of it, to Xu Lanfeng.

Seeing this scene, some comprehension appeared on Xu Lanfeng's face.

"Have you comprehended existence?" asked Xu Lanfeng as she looked at Xu Yue with a shocked expression on her face.

"It seems as though I have indeed done that," mumbled Xu Yue as a confused expression appeared on her face.

Some joy appeared on Xu Lanfeng's face as she heard that, but that joy quickly disappeared as she looked at the confused expression on Xu Yue's face.

"So, did something else happen?" asked Xu Lanfeng as she looked at her descendant, causing Xu Yue to nod.

"Although I'm not sure why, after comprehending my existence, my Dao Tree feels somewhat weird," said Xu Yue, causing Xu Lanfeng to fall into thought for a few moments, hesitation appearing on her face.

After a few moments, Xu Lanfeng finally opened her mouth and began speaking.

"Have you considered the fact that your Dao Tree has not changed in the slightest?" asked Xu Lanfeng as she looked at Xu Yue, causing a confused look to appear on Xu Yue's face.

After saying those words, Xu Lanfeng disappeared alongside the sword which Xu Yue had given her, leaving Xu Yue alone.

As she saw this scene, thoughts couldn't help but emerge in Xu Yue's mind, but after just a few moments, Xu Yue resolved nearly all of them, leaving only one.

'Ancestor left holding the sheath of my sword'

'Sword'

...

'Is the sword Dao really the Dao best suited for me?' thought Xu Yue, as enlightenment suddenly appeared on her face.

Suddenly, memories from just a few moments ago appeared in Xu Yue's mind, as she suddenly remembered the cracking sound she heard the moment she woke up.