My heart stopped. I watched in terror as the Gatekeeper stood up from his seat and walked towards me. "Twin Stars." His eyes narrowed. "I thought I would never see its power ever again in my life. Has Bai Ye finally found a way to reawaken it?"
His words startled me, and I suddenly remembered the strange look that Teng Yuan examined me with when we met. Was this the moment that Bai Ye was preparing for? Had he anticipated that I might accidentally summon the power forward from Twin Stars?
And what had happened to these swords in the past that could make all the masters so alarmed?
Teng Yuan followed behind the Gatekeeper. "What did you just do?" he asked me.
I looked up at him. "I … don't know," I said. I couldn't tell if his question was meant as a suspicious interrogation or a digression of the Gatekeeper's attention, but if Bai Ye told me to trust Teng Yuan, then I'd tell the truth. "I was only trying to materialize my spiritual power. But under the pressure of Senior Wen's technique, it felt … different. I don't fully understand what happened."
The Gatekeeper huffed. "One cannot summon such a power accidentally. Bai Ye must've taught you other techniques."
The cave chamber, I thought with a slight tremble. The technique that Bai Ye warned me not to tell anyone else about. My heart skipped again at the thought of where the Gatekeeper was leading to. "I haven't learned anything except the standard techniques for my level of experience," I lied, "the most advanced being materialization, and—"
"That's not possible," the Gatekeeper cut me off. "What you just awakened was the true form of the demonic sword's power. A power that cannot be summoned with any standard techniques. Do you understand what it is capable of?"
I shook my head. I didn't, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to as I recalled what I read that day in the library. Was Twin Stars really capable of wreaking that type of havoc?
Teng Yuan spoke next. "Show us what you did, Bai Ye's disciple. The answer will be clear once we see you summon it without another spiritual power's interference."
I looked at him, unsure if he was trying to help. What if they notice something else out of the ordinary when I repeat it? I hesitated, unrealistically hoping that Bai Ye was here to help me. But I knew he was caught up in the matches on the other field, and I had to face this on my own this time.
Trust Bai Ye's judgment, I told myself. He wouldn't risk putting me in a worse situation by asking for Teng Yuan's help. I nodded and raised Twin Stars, commanding my spiritual power to flow through the swords the same way I did during the match.
It was harder to control my power without the pressure from Wen Shiyin's technique, but I focused on the earlier feeling and kept trying, hoping that a successful demonstration could make the Gatekeeper—and myself for that matter—understand what had just happened. Finally, I felt that sparkle of power in me just like before, and I willed it forward. The crimson light reappeared, flaring high like a hissing flame over the blades.
"Abomination!" The Gatekeeper's sudden bellow almost shook the ground. He strode towards me. "This … This is the devil's power!"
I stumbled, cutting off my power flowing through Twin Stars abruptly. This wasn't right. Whatever I just showed seemed to have made the situation worse. "Gatekeeper!" I exclaimed while instinctively backing away from him. "Please let me explain!"
"Gatekeeper," Teng Yuan strode forward as well. His paces looked slow, but within three steps, he had caught up and was standing between the Gatekeeper and me. "If she could wield the full power of Twin Stars at will, we wouldn't be standing here peacefully right now. You remember what the extent of that power was like."
My heartbeat thudded violently in my ears as I tried to regain composure. My grip on Twin Stars had grown clammy, and I didn't know if it was from fear of the Gatekeeper or the swords. The Gatekeeper's reaction was beyond my expectation. There was not only fury in his eyes, but also a hint of … horror. Just what kind of history about Twin Stars did Bai Ye try so hard to hide from me?
The Gatekeeper gave Teng Yuan a glare. "She is only a disciple now, and she can grow stronger. If you remember the extent of that power, then you know very well what the consequences are if we leave her be."
Teng Yuan shook his head. "Twin Stars is no longer the same as we remember. Do you truly believe its strength can still return to what it used to be, after all that was done?"
The two of them were silent for a long while, as if lost in their memories from hundreds of years ago. At last, the Gatekeeper sighed. "But we can't take such a risk. Bai Ye should've destroyed these swords in the first place. Instead, he spent almost three hundred years searching for a way to bring them back to life, and it looks like he had succeeded. We can't let him repeat the same mistake again."
"Then we will speak to him," Teng Yuan said. "Whereas this one—" he gestured at me, "—is merely a disciple. I find it hard to believe that she has nearly enough power to reawaken these swords that have been dormant for centuries."
The Gatekeeper scowled. "She is not just any disciple if the demonic sword is bound to her. That's the only way she can summon this power! Twin Stars—"
"Twin Stars is a memory of the past." Bai Ye's voice cut through the heavy air hanging over the field. "Its power is nothing like what you remember, Chu Yang.. And my disciple is not the only one who can summon it forward."
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