Chapter 587 - Shard of Divine (I) (Patreon)

Mao Yuhan lazily yawned, taking a sip of the firebud tea and looking down over the railing. She stood about a thousand yards up, perched at the highest point of the Sword Tower, the beating heart and soul of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Legends were that the tower itself was a sword, once used by the first Sword Emperor to cleave open the void and create this world.

She hardly believed it, naturally, but at least its shape resembled the Sect's holy weapon, Heaven's Roar.

Whenever she was bored, her mind would wander to the old stories as a way of distracting herself. However, today, it didn't last particularly long. Rather than bored, she mostly just distracted herself for a moment.

The world had... changed, to say the least, in the past few months. By some miracle, her Sect had only lost a few of the hopeful kids, with most returning alive. Then again, they only sent out ten kids, unlike most other Holy Lands who sent out at least double that number, if not triple.

The stories had already spread, though she learned of the truth very early on. A vile plan concocted by that old hag who should have died at least a few thousand years ago, all thwarted by... somebody.

A new player in the game was a variable that she seldom liked, as she preferred the status quo for the boring days.

Taking another sip of the tea, she looked back down over the countless pavilions of the sect. Placed just against the shores of the lake, with cliffs reaching as high as the height of this very tower, on a small enclave with a naturally fortified bridge connecting it to the mainland... a perfect little paradise, but also one that is about to become less calm in the coming days and months.

Not only was their biggest auction in over a century coming up, but so was the annual ferry to the Island. With so many Holy Lands teetering on the edge of generational collapse, it was likely that they'd send the hopeful to the Island, praying for their success there.

Though most Elders were deeply excited as it meant a massive windfall for the Sect--likely at least a few hundred Divine-grade Stones at the very least--she loathed it as it meant that the entire place would be swarming with all manner of vermin. Whether they were well-intended vermin or not, it did not matter; they'd be loud, greedy, and they'd--

"I know what that look means," a voice interrupted her thoughts as she jumped to her feet. Standing next to her was quite a familiar face--though she had let herself 'age' to a degree, her Master was still an iridescently beautiful woman. Platinum hair cut short to perfectly frame the gentle yet sharp face, and the features that had every man running headless toward her only to be rebuffed.

Her Master turned gently and faced her, the pair of multi-colored gems for eyes staring at her with an invisible smile.

"I, I wasn't," she still had trouble facing her, even all these years later. Any time this woman would show up, Mao Yuhan found herself regressing toward being the small girl she was when her Master saved her from hell. "G-greetings, Master. I didn't know you would be coming."

"Why wouldn't I?" the woman said, looking back over the railing and at the vast expanse of the Sect. "Besides, that dullard you call a Dao Companion put up something... quite revolting."

"..." Mao Yuhan winced and bit her lip, lowering her head. Though she tried to persuade that fool to not do it... "He... he's desperate, too, Master. Please, understand."

"I think I've been plenty understanding, Yuhan'er, staying silent ever since you swore to me you were making the right choice. Do you still think that?"

"... I do."

"Hm. You at least uphold your convictions. I've taught you well." it was hardly a secret that her Master never liked her choice of a Dao Companion. In fact, the night before the day of the Wedding Rites, her Master offered to transfer all of her cultivation over if she rejected him.

"He's simply trying to fulfill his duty, Master."

"... I had hoped more from you, Yuhan'er," her Master's words cut like a sharp sword, and that gaze... it was almost venomous. "And yet, you're lounging around this godforsaken place, drinking tea, and indulging in sloth. When do you even plan on attempting a breakthrough? How long has it been since you've reached the Perfected Soul? A thousand years?"

"I--"

"--when I taught you the Heaven's Mandate, what did you promise me?"

"..."

"What?"

"To, to break into the Soul Ascendance Realm before the tenth millennium..." she said, bitterness bleeding into her voice.

"Hm," her Master sighed, turning her eyes away and looking up at the sky. "You had so much potential. In fact, when you were a child, that potential led to an Inner Demon for me."

"M-Master...?"

"While I was breaking into the Soul Ascendance Realm," she said. "I nearly died. I had to face the deplorable thoughts I'd buried in the depths of my soul--that I was deeply envious of my child. Of that sweet, beautiful, gentle child who would light up the world with her innocence. And there was me, the loathsome old thing. I barely survived... but I did not conquer my demons."

"..." Mao Yuhan's eyes widened and her lips parted in shock, though no words would come out.

"Why, pray tell, do you think that those demons did not swarm me when I broke through into the Eternal Barrier Realm?" her Master asked, those eyes once again finding Yuhan's. "Because I've watched you waste everything. Decade after decade. Century after century. You entombed your ass on that throne, and you just... stopped. Excuses after excuses--my personal strength is irrelevant, I must make the sect stronger. There will be the time, I'm still young. I should first raise a few children before dedicating myself solely to Dao."

"..."

"Rather than jealousy, at some point I became... angry. So, so angry that I deeply considered killing him just to light the fire in you."

"!!!" Mao Yuhan stumbled back, the knot in her heart twisting further. The look in her Master's gaze... she could not recognize.

"But... the you of today, I knew, would simply crumble. Like a parchment tossed into the rain. So... there was no point. No point to anything, truly."

"... w-why, why are you telling me this? Especially now?" she braved to ask.

"Because I'm going into my last seclusion," she said. "I'll either ascend or I'll die. And, before I did, I wanted to let go of the last regret in my heart. Mao Yuhan," she felt her heart bleed suddenly, as her Master had never used her full name before. "Until the day I die, you will always be my daughter and I will always love you. But, from this day forward, you are no longer my Disciple. I sever the Masterly bond between us, and I forbid you from ever teaching Heaven's Mandate to another soul. Should you, the Laws of Dao shall punish you accordingly. You may remain upon the seat of the Sect Master for as long as you'd like, but you cannot choose or weigh in on your successor. The Prime Elders were already informed and they will groom your successor personally. If you choose to leave this Sect, or liberate yourself from my family name, you will have to undergo the Ritual of Oblivion, per the blood's customs.

"These rules will not be altered in any capacity," she added as her aged figure began to fade. "Even in the case they do light the fire in you, and you become strong enough to kill us all. Goodbye, child. You have simply left me with no choice."

The voice slowly disappeared and silence became the king. Mao Yuhan stayed standing, her head lowered as tears coalesced in her eyes.

She had her entire body broken, every limb on her body severed, had been burned and choked and drowned and poisoned and shocked and tossed into an active volcano, and she had been devoured by the Whale of the Lake, and had a sword thrust straight through her heart... but none of it hurt the tenth of how much she hurt now.

And, she knew, nothing ever would.