99: Chapter 97 The Origin of the Moon Palace

"Not because of insufficient talent, nor because of inadequate cultivation. Only because they all used 'self' as the sword; I am the one holding the sword, I am the one striking with the sword, and the only one attaining the Dao is also 'I'."

"Beyond me, there is nothing to slash; beyond me, there is no one to protect."

"This is not the Sword Dao; it is a cage."

The voice paused, as if intentionally letting these words sink in for a moment, before continuing:

"Of the two of you, one is weighed down by deep obsession, accustomed to carrying all living beings upon your own shoulders; the other is detached from the world, accustomed to observing and understanding the River of Fate as a bystander. You were two extremes, destined never to converge."

"Yet today, the obsessed one was willing to temporarily relinquish the control of 'self,' groping forward within another's shell; the bystander was willing to first open the door of 'self,' wielding that sword she never dared to hold in a newborn state."

"By breaking your 'attachment to self,' you may obtain the true meaning of my Sword Intent."

The voice fell.

That broken sword vibrated gently, floating of its own accord between Chu Ye and Xuanji.

The blade was damaged and the rust had not faded, yet a perfectly harmonious and flawless Sword Intent slowly seeped out from the sword's heart, like spring water breaking through ice, or the morning sun piercing through clouds.

This Sword Intent was not sharp, not piercing, and didn't even possess any aggression.

It simply... existed.

Chu Ye reached out, and the hilt automatically fell into his palm.

There was no master-recognition ceremony, no roar of spiritual energy empowerment.

He simply held it and felt a near-gentle dao rhyme that spanned ages, slowly flowing into his Meridians along the hilt. It wasn't a gift or a Legacy, but more like a kind of 'entrustment.'

At the same time, a point of light condensed to the extreme separated from the blade and floated toward Xuanji's brow.

That was not a sword; it was a memory.

Xuanji closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, a faint trace of vicissitude that did not belong to her was reflected in her pupils.

"...This was his final battle," she said softly. "The black lightning that day was not a tribulation; it was 'Heaven'."

She looked at Chu Ye.

"He could have avoided it. With his Sword Dao, no one in this world could have kept him there."

"But he did not leave."

"Because his Dao Companion was trapped in the center of that battlefield, exhausted and on the verge of death."

Chu Ye fell silent.

He looked down at the broken sword in his palm. Those rust spots and cracks suddenly had meaning; they were not battle damage or signs of defeat.

It was because someone had held it, guarding in front of another person until the sword broke, strength was exhausted, and life was lost, never retreating a single step.

"Then what about his Dao Companion?" Chu Ye asked.

Xuanji did not answer.

She simply closed her eyes gently, as if she had seen more unspeakable scenes in those fleeting memory fragments.

The broken sword hummed softly in Chu Ye's palm, like a sigh spanning through the ages.

Then, that aged voice rang out again, though it was now much weaker:

"My Dao ends here. My sword also stops here."

"However, though a sword may break, the Dao cannot be extinguished. I have left this wisp of Sword Intent, not to choose a master, but to wait for a destined person. Not one with peerless talent or divine swordsmanship, but one who can use their sword to protect their person."

"Your method of clearing the trial has proven this heart."

"Therefore, my Sword Intent shall be divided and bestowed upon the two of you."

Two rays of light overflowed from the broken sword simultaneously.

One fell into Chu Ye's brow.

That was the [Sword of Defense] that the Sword Immortal had comprehended throughout his life. It did not excel in slaughter or dominance through sharpness, but rather transformed Sword Intent into a barrier, a Domain, and even the 'Way of Protection' for a world.

It was naturally compatible with the Origin of Chu Ye's hundred phoenix diagram.

The other ray fell into Xuanji's palm.

That was the final [Sword of Illumination] from the Sword Immortal before his death. It did not slash the Physical Body or wound the Divine Soul, but used Sword Intent as a mirror to reflect Karma, trajectories, and even a single variable within the River of Fate.

It reached the same destination as the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's art of deduction through a different path.

The Legacy was complete, and the final sliver of light from the broken sword was exhausted.

It fell silent in Chu Ye's palm, no longer humming or vibrating, becoming just an ordinary, rust-covered broken sword.

No, it was not ordinary.

Chu Ye could sense that deep within the world of the hundred phoenix diagram, the scroll sent by the Goddess Palace was emitting an extremely faint resonance with this broken sword.

Without showing any emotion, he stored the broken sword into the hundred phoenix diagram.

The stone chamber began to vibrate.

The Legacy had been bestowed, and this ruin, sealed for ages, was about to collapse on its own and return to nothingness.

Chu Ye and Xuanji exited the palace hall side by side, stepping onto the Sword Intent stairs that led to the surface.

Behind them, the ancient stone palace dissolved into quicksand-like glimmers during the collapse, dissipating bit by bit into the Void Realm.

When they stood back upon that scorched battlefield, the stairs had completely vanished, and even the sword-scar Seal was nowhere to be found.

Only the lingering, fading Sword Intent in the air proved that everything just now was not a dream.

Chu Ye turned his head and looked at Xuanji.

Her light veil had been put back on at some point.

Only Chu Ye knew what the scenery was like beneath that half-inch of fabric.

"Saintess of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion,"

He suddenly spoke, his voice carrying a hint of relaxed teasing that even he hadn't noticed, "can blush too?"

Xuanji did not look at him.

Her gaze fell on a certain point in the distance in the void, as if a hexagram was forming there.

"...That was capillary dilation caused by the reversal of Qi and blood," her voice returned to its usual calm and ethereal tone.

"It is a normal physiological phenomenon and has nothing to do with emotions."

"Oh."

Chu Ye nodded. "Then next time your Qi and blood reverse, remember to give me a heads-up."

Xuanji was silent for two breaths.

Then, she turned, her plain sleeves fluttering gently in the wind as she walked toward another direction of the battlefield.

After a few steps, she stopped.

"...That Dao Companion of the Sword Immortal," she said without turning back, "survived in the end."

Chu Ye was startled.

"He protected her with the broken sword until his final moment, falling after his strength was exhausted. She survived and walked out of the battlefield alone."

"What happened later?"

"Later, she founded a Sect," Xuanji's voice was very soft, "specifically to take in women who were homeless and had nowhere else to go. The Sect was named—"

She paused.

"Guanghan Immortal Palace."

As her voice fell, her figure vanished into the halo at the edge of the battlefield.

Chu Ye stood in place, silent for a long time.

Then he looked down at his empty palm.

There, he had once held a broken sword, and also a slender wrist covered by a light veil.

He suddenly smiled.

"Saintess of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion," he muttered to himself, "is truly a troublesome woman."

In the distance, somewhere in the void, Xuanji's footsteps paused slightly.

She did not look back, but simply stored the [Sword of Illumination] inherited from the Sword Immortal deep into her Divine Soul, placing it alongside countless hexagram fragments.

There, an empty spot remained.

She did not know what would be placed in that spot in the future.

But at this moment, her fingertips still held a certain rough and warm sensation that did not belong to her.

It was the callus on Chu Ye's palm.

Xuanji's figure disappeared into the halo at the edge of the battlefield, and Chu Ye did not try to make her stay.

He stood in place, the slight resonance of the broken sword entering the hundred phoenix diagram still lingering in his palm, as that sentence echoed repeatedly in his mind—

"She founded a Sect, specifically to take in women who were homeless and had nowhere else to go. The Sect was named—Guanghan Immortal Palace."

Ages ago, that Sword Immortal protected his Dao Companion with a broken sword until his final breath, falling here.

Ages later, his Dao Companion founded Guanghan Immortal Palace, taking in countless helpless women just as she had been back then.

And now, two generations of Palace Masters from Guanghan Immortal Palace were by his side, calling him 'Master.'

Chu Ye looked down at his empty hand.