“Can you walk that path for me and that madman?”
The old man spoke, extending an invitation to Lu Mo.
Looking at those sincere, hopeful, yet crazed eyes, Lu Mo remained calm. Finally, she gave her answer.
“I understand.”
“Disciple Mo… pays respects to Master Audenary.”
She bowed to the old man.
“Good… good…”
That day, the old man spoke with excitement. He had not been this happy in many years.
Before long, the rain passed, and the sky cleared.
Lu Mo followed the woman and the old man as they left the Imperial City. She left quietly, so much so that no one even noticed her departure. They searched the entire city for Lu Mo’s silhouette, but in the end, they found nothing.
“Mo… Did she leave in disappointment because she wasn’t chosen by a Great Power?”
“She was clearly the first-place winner of the Prodigy War, yet in the end, she could only leave the stage so desolately…”
People speculated about the reason for Lu Mo’s disappearance. They felt pity that her aptitude ranking had fallen to third and that she had not been taken as a disciple by a Great Power.
“To be in the mortal realm yet crush the people of the heavens all the way, even defeating a God-descendant in the end… we might never see a scene like that again, will we?”
“Perhaps even Mo herself won’t be able to recreate the events of that day a few years from now.”
The gap between her and the ancient bloodlines, the ancient sacred bodies, and the God-descendants would only grow larger day by day. Eventually, she might even be swallowed by the path she walked, meeting a bitter end.
“Mo… Mo… Don’t think that just because you disappeared, the humiliation of the finals will end like this!”
In the God-descendant family’s estate, the petite God-descendant Girl hid in her room, punching a rabbit doll that was larger than she was. She spoke through gritted teeth, tears flickering in the corners of her eyes.
“We will meet again, and when that day comes, I will definitely step on you… and ruthlessly trample your face!”
Many emotions. Many voices. They mixed into the wind, spreading into the distance. Eventually, they faded into the breeze. They could not reach Lu Mo’s ears, and Lu Mo never cared for those rumors anyway.
***
At sixteen, Lu Mo took the Undying Sword as her master and vanished from the public eye. Time passed slowly and steadily, and another two years went by.
In an open field, Lu Mo was practicing her sword. She was eighteen now, having completely shed her childhood innocence to become a bright and beautiful young woman. Today, she wore a dress that could not be more ordinary, yet simply by standing there, she exuded a breathtaking beauty—like a brilliant flower blooming in the early summer.
She had changed a lot. But some things had never changed. She was still the same as back then, practicing her sword like a madwoman every single day. She was still the same as back then: silent and lonely.
The woman watched Lu Mo from a distance as she practiced alone, not disturbing her.
Thinking back, bringing Lu Mo here felt like something that had happened only yesterday. Many stories had unfolded over these two years. She had brought Lu Mo back and watched her practice every day until, one day, she suddenly had the urge to fight Lu Mo.
She was twelve years older than Lu Mo and had achieved decent results in her own Prodigy War. Currently, she was at the high stage of the Transcendence Rank, touching the threshold of the Earth Vein Realm. She felt she could still suppress Lu Mo. After the idea popped into her head, she sent a duel request to Lu Mo.
Lu Mo smiled and agreed.
“Then, Miss Mo, excuse me—”
As soon as the woman spoke, she saw the girl’s figure turn into an afterimage. A terrifying killing intent and a sharp sword intent surged toward her, intertwining to crush her. Feeling those two auras, even someone who had touched the threshold of the Earth Vein Realm shuddered violently.
In the end, she lost.
Whether it was because she had been intimidated by Lu Mo or because she had condensed her Virtual Vein Law too hastily, when they finally clashed swords, her Virtual Vein power was actually torn apart by Lu Mo’s **Fusion Sublimation Power**!
The **Fusion Sublimation Power** blasted toward Selina.
Feeling that crazed and extreme aura of power, Selina’s breath hitched, her stance faltered, and she fell right onto her backside. She truly felt the terror of the **Fusion Sublimation Power**. If that sword had landed… she might have died!
Fortunately, Lu Mo dispersed the power just in time.
“Miss Selina, you lost.”
Lu Mo withdrew her sword and spoke to Selina, who was still sitting on the ground.
Selina stared blankly at Lu Mo’s cold and elegant face. Her own face flushed red and then turned pale; she couldn’t say a word for a long time. She, someone with half a foot in the Earth Vein Realm, had actually lost? She had lost to a girl twelve years younger than her—the youngest junior sister who had just started following the old man!
Luckily, no other disciples saw it. Otherwise, her reputation as the Eldest Senior Sister would have been ruined.
Having lost to her junior sister like that, Selina was naturally unsatisfied.
‘Why did I lose?’
‘I understand! The problem was that I underestimated her too much, and then there’s that **Fusion Sublimation Power**!’
She replayed the battle in her head several times before suddenly slapping her thigh and reaching a conclusion.
‘Yes, that’s right. It must be that!’
Thus, two months later, Selina approached Lu Mo again to initiate a challenge. She proposed a new requirement: this time, she would not use her Virtual Vein power, but Lu Mo could not use her **Fusion Sublimation Power** either.
“Junior Sister Mo, this time, let’s both only use the power of the early Transcendence Rank. No Virtual Veins and no **Fusion Sublimation Power**. What do you think?”
Lu Mo agreed.
Selina’s heart immediately filled with joy. Last time, she had been careless, and Lu Mo’s **Fusion Sublimation Power** was too far beyond the norm, which was why she had lost. This time, she would definitely reclaim everything she had lost!
But the reality was…
Selina lost again, and she lost even more miserably than the first time. She was sent flying by Lu Mo’s sword, landing face-first with her rear in the air.
“Miss Selina, are you okay?”
Just as Lu Mo was about to go check on her, Selina scrambled to her feet. Covering her face, she insisted she was fine while quickly fleeing the scene. Selina felt she had lost even more face this time.
But she was still a bit stubborn.
After some time had passed, she approached Lu Mo once more.
“Miss Mo, this time we won’t compare power or realms. We’ll compare pure swordsmanship!” She spoke to Lu Mo with her hands on her hips.
She was the biological daughter of the Undying Sword! She had followed her father and learned the sword every day, being influenced by him since childhood. In terms of swordsmanship, she had to be stronger than Lu Mo, right?
However—
After only ten strikes, Selina’s sword was knocked away. Lu Mo’s sword stopped right at her throat.
“Miss Selina, you lost again,” Lu Mo said.
This time, Selina did not blush, nor did she run away. She only looked at Lu Mo, sinking into a deep state of shock.
Without the influence of the **Fusion Sublimation Power** or cultivation realms, she finally realized just how terrifying Lu Mo’s talent on the path of swordsmanship actually was. In just a few short months, Lu Mo’s understanding of her father’s swordsmanship had completely surpassed her own twenty-some years of diligent practice!
The girl standing before her didn’t seem human at all; she was like a monster wearing a human skin!
After that, Selina didn’t dare ask Lu Mo for a spar anymore. Whenever she thought about that last pure swordsmanship bout where she was defeated within ten strikes, a deep sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart.
Sometimes, she would watch Lu Mo practice her sword from a distance.
Regardless of wind or rain, regardless of bitter cold or scorching heat. On that empty training ground, the sound of whistling sword-winds was always present. The girl was always there practicing, always so persistent, so silent, and so… lonely.
Selina sometimes felt puzzled.
‘Why? She is clearly so powerful already, so why does she still act like she’s giving her all? Is she not tired? Doesn’t she have friends? Does she not want to take advantage of her youth to experience a more interesting life?’
She became increasingly curious about Lu Mo. And this observation, gradually, became a habit.