Too many possibilities crossed my mind. This girl must be related to me in some way, but how? It wasn't uncommon to see flashbacks of one's past lives through meditation, but the master from Azure Dragon Temple already told me that I didn't have a past cycle, and this girl didn't have the same appearance as me anyway. It could also be that she was my ancestor … though I somewhat doubted that a mere blood relation was sufficient to pass on the bonding.
I glanced towards Bai Ye's door. I should probably tell him about these new visions, and I would have if the time for tournament gathering wasn't drawing close. It might have to wait until this second round of the game is over.
"Yun Qing-er." A voice startled me. I swirled to find Xie Lun standing in the hallway, a somewhat sly smile on his face. "Heading towards the assembly field?"
My immediate thought was that he must've seen where I was looking earlier. Did he know that was Bai Ye's room? I could only pray silently that he didn't. "Senior Xie," I managed a not-so-nervous smile. "Yes, though honestly I was hoping for a longer break. The schedule is too demanding for a lazy disciple like me."
He laughed and started making his way down those baleful stairs. I followed. "Longer stay causes more trouble," he said. "Two other disciples have already tried to trade prizes with me. You were fortunate that the power enhancer was absorbed into you instantly. Otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised if it would soon be stolen or coaxed away."
That was precisely what Bai Ye had anticipated, I marveled silently. "Maybe that was intentional," I ventured. "I wonder if the top prizes had frequently been stolen in the past years, so this time they chose an artifact that couldn't be transferred to someone else."
Xie Lun nodded. "Speaking of it, have you been feeling better? Your reaction back when you found the artifact … was slightly concerning."
"Much better." I smiled. "Like what my master said, my body isn't fully suited to its power, and it took me a little while to adapt to it. But I'm quite fine now."
Xie Lun hesitated for a moment. Then he looked around, as if to make sure that no one else was listening to us. "Is that really the case?" he asked in a lowered voice. "I know a little about … demonic swords. Their power is very similar to that of the artifact. If your body isn't well suited to it, how could you have handled using your swords all this time?"
I hadn't expected this at all, and I wasn't sure if I should be more surprised that he noticed the association or worried about what he was implying. Seeing my silence, Xie Lun added, "I don't mean to pry, and you don't need to tell me the details, but I assume you know that using demonic swords comes at a price. Especially if your body isn't suited to it …"
I nodded, knowing that he was only trying to help. "My master gave the swords to me to help strengthen my spiritual power," I said. Xie Lun had already suspected before that Twin Stars accelerated my progress, so this was no secret. "He has shown me ways to … lessen its undesired effects on me, and it's been working well. I appreciate your concern though."
Xie Lun only frowned at my reply. "Do you remember the first day when you came to our hall to spar with Qi Lian, I had told you that you had an extraordinary talent for swordsmanship?" He shook his head. "I can't say I know swords better than your master, of course, but I think there should be many other ways to help you without resorting to such a dangerous power. There are artifacts to enhance one's spiritual roots, for example, or change one's affinity to different elements. Those artifacts are rare, but for someone like Master Bai Ye, they aren't impossible to find."
The more he spoke, the more at a loss I felt. Was this all true? Were there really other ways to accelerate my progress that didn't require using Twin Stars? Why had Bai Ye never mentioned it? I quickly shook those questions out of my head. Bai Ye knew me much better than Xie Lun. Maybe there was something else about my body that I wasn't aware of that made Twin Stars the only reasonable choice, or maybe those other artifacts were indeed too hard to come by …
Either way, I wasn't going to keep using these swords for much longer, and none of these would be relevant by then.
"Thank you for telling me this," I said. "I trust my master's decision, but I'll keep those alternatives in mind."
A strange look appeared on Xie Lun's face. He seemed to want to say more, though he didn't. We changed the topic afterward and didn't mention Twin Stars again for the rest of our way.
~ ~
The tournament ground was the same as the last round. When we stepped through the seal, Xie Lun and I naturally landed in the same area, whereas the rest of the disciples were all scattered across the field. "Would you be interested in teaming up?" he offered. "It's common practice among participants from the same sect. Moving together is always easier than relying solely on yourself."
Wen Shiyin had already mentioned this to me before, so I wasn't surprised at all by his suggestion. "I'd love to," I said. "We can keep all the prizes till the end just like last time and divide it then—"
"No need for that," Xie Lun chuckled. "Believe it or not, I'm really not in it for the prizes. Even for that sword hilt, if one of you really wanted it, I wouldn't have insisted on taking it for myself. So feel free to take anything you like and leave me the rest."
I looked at him disbelievingly. "Isn't your offer a little too good to be true?" I asked.
He laughed. "Don't worry, I swear I don't have other ulterior motives. Take it as I'm too embarrassed to fight over prizes with a junior."
I stared at him some more, though I nodded suspiciously in the end. "Thanks for being so generous," I said.. Then we both fetched our tracking devices to start the game.
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