Feng Lingshuang, a farm girl from Xitian Town, Luoyun City, Kingdom of Yue, in the North Region of the Kongxuan Realm.
Her Dao name was Jian Mingzi, and she was the Closing Disciple of the current Heavenly Sword Sect Leader, Xiao Yaxuan.
Possessing a Natural Sword Bone rarely seen in 10,000 years, she was hailed as the hope for the Heavenly Sword Sect’s future rise, a genius destined to achieve a Transparent Sword Heart and reach the pinnacle of the Supreme Sword Dao.
Only a few short months ago, she was just an ordinary farm girl living outside Luoyun City in the Kingdom of Yue.
Every day, she followed her parents to work in the fields, fed the chickens, and chopped wood.
Her greatest worries were the success of the family harvest and her naughty younger siblings.
The turning point of her fate occurred on a seemingly ordinary afternoon.
A peerless female cultivator in green robes descended as if from the nine heavens, arriving at their remote little village.
She was the Heavenly Sword Sect Leader, Xiao Yaxuan.
It was rumored that she had sought this place after an old hermit calculated the heavenly secrets at a great cost to find a successor to inherit her mantle.
Sect Leader Xiao used mysterious techniques to test the aptitude of all children of the appropriate age in the village.
When her finger, brimming with Supreme Sword Intent, lightly touched Feng Lingshuang’s forehead, a strange phenomenon suddenly occurred!
In an instant, a brilliant, crystal-like radiance erupted from Feng Lingshuang’s body.
It was as if 10,000 swords were humming in unison within her, resonating violently with Sect Leader Xiao’s Sword Intent!
The clouds across the entire sky were stirred by an invisible force, transforming into a massive vortex.
“The Natural Sword Bone! It is actually the legendary Natural Sword Bone!”
Even the usually cold and composed Xiao Yaxuan could not hide her excitement.
Her gaze toward Feng Lingshuang was like looking at a rare and precious treasure.
What followed was only natural.
Amidst the joy and fear of her parents and the envious looks of the villagers, Feng Lingshuang joined the sect of this sword dao giant who was famous throughout the Kongxuan Realm, becoming the Closing Disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect Leader.
After being taken back to the Heavenly Sword Sect, her path of cultivation was so smooth it was startling.
The Natural Sword Bone gave her an extraordinary affinity and understanding of the sword dao.
The accumulation that ordinary disciples required several or even ten or more years to complete often took her only a few months.
In just two months, she completed Qi Induction and successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, breaking the record for the fastest progress in the history of the Heavenly Sword Sect!
Now, she was already a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
Her sword dao cultivation far exceeded that of the other young cultivators in the sect.
She was regarded by the entire sect as a future pillar and the undisputed number-one figure of the younger generation.
Her Master and Sect Leader taught her everything she knew and cared for her deeply.
Although her senior brothers and sisters occasionally looked at her with complex expressions, they still treated her with great courtesy.
Even those senior nephews and grand-disciples who were much older than her would respectfully call her Grandmaster Feng.
Resources, status, and a bright future… she seemed to possess everything the world dreamed of.
Everyone believed she would perfectly inherit her Master’s legacy, eventually achieve the Transparent Sword Heart and the Tiangang Dao Fruit, and become a peerless sword immortal who would lead the Heavenly Sword Sect back to its peak or even achieve Immortal Ascension.
However, Feng Lingshuang always felt as though a piece of her heart was missing.
Whenever she stood alone on the mountain peak practicing her sword or sat in meditation during the dead of night, a mysterious sense of loss would quietly emerge.
It felt as though… she was meant to be in a different place, living a different life.
There should have been other people by her side.
Especially that recurring, fragmented dream.
In the dream, there was no arrival of the Heavenly Sword Sect Leader and no enviable status as a genius.
The North Region in the dream seemed to have suffered a terrible famine.
The fields were cracked, and the ground was covered with the bodies of those who had starved.
Her parents did not survive, passing away one after another from illness and hunger.
Young and alone, she could only follow a crowd of tattered refugees, wandering aimlessly toward the south, where legends said immortals lived.
She drifted from place to place, never having enough to eat and witnessing countless tragedies.
She did not know how long she walked, but just as she exhausted the last bit of her strength, she finally saw a celestial mountain shrouded in mist and brimming with Lingqi.
Before the mountain gate stood a stone tablet, though the characters on it were always blurred.
Then, an immortal whose face she could not see, but who felt exceptionally gentle, appeared before her.
He took in her dying self, brought her back to a celestial mountain, and made her his disciple.
The immortal named Lu in the dream was very poor.
His mountain peak was dilapidated and lacked resources.
Yet, he kept the best things for her while living frugally himself.
He would hand-sew her clothes—which, though not beautiful, were clean and neat.
He would stay anxiously by her bedside when she was sick, not hesitating to lower his status to beg other immortal friends—who were perhaps also not wealthy—to help find medicine.
Although their days were bitter and cultivation resources were tight, and she was often mocked and bullied by disciples of other peaks because of her background and cultivation, the Immortal Lu would always stand firmly in front of her.
He blocked all the wind and rain for her, even if he had to bear the pressure himself.
He not only taught her mysterious sword techniques and how to be a good person but also gave her a home and an unreserved, brotherly and fatherly love.
In return, she practiced with all her might.
She only wanted to become strong as soon as possible so she would no longer be a burden to her Master, but rather his pride.
Later, she really did it.
In one sect competition after another, she relied on the Extreme Emotion Sword Dao her Master had created for her to defeat powerful enemies, winning unprecedented honor and resources for that small, dilapidated mountain peak.
Later on, her Master seemed to become a bit more well-off and gradually took in several more junior sisters.
In the dream, she naturally took on the responsibility of the Senior Sister.
Like an older sister, and even slightly like a mother, she took care of and taught those junior sisters who had such different personalities.
Although they occasionally had minor frictions, they were essentially good and kind people.
The Master and his disciples lived together, depending on each other.
That time… was full of life and warmth.
That dream was too real.
It was so real that every time she woke up, she could clearly remember the warmth of being cherished, the friendship of fighting side by side, and the sense of responsibility of being the Senior Sister.
However, whenever she tried hard to see the face of the Immortal Lu in the dream or tried to remember the specific name and location of that celestial mountain, all the details would quickly become blurred like ink soaked in water.
In the end, only a strong but misplaced sense of longing and emptiness remained.
She had asked her Master, Xiao Yaxuan, why she always had that dream.
Her Master said it might be some kind of innate wisdom left over from a former life.
In her former life, she was likely the prodigy of an ancient sword sect.
However, Feng Lingshuang searched through ancient records but could not find any sect in history that matched the celestial mountain in her dream.
She also could not find the so-called Extreme Emotion Sword Dao.
The only thing similar was the Severing Emotion Sword of the Xuling Sect’s Duanqing Peak.
But the moves of the Severing Emotion Sword were significantly different from the Extreme Emotion Sword Dao her dream Master had created.
No matter what, Feng Lingshuang could not find that sect or those cultivation methods from her dream.
It was as if they were merely delusions in her mind.
That missing void and the inexplicable concern for her Master and junior sisters in her dream were like an unmelting piece of ice at the bottom of a lake.
It always existed beneath her state of Transparent Sword Heart, becoming the only discordant stain in her perfect sword dao.
Just as she was troubled by her experiences in the dream, a change suddenly occurred two weeks ago.
She dreamed of the Master in her dream bringing her to the Jin Kingdom to participate in the Imperial Secret Realm Trial.
The day after she had this dream, the Jin Kingdom suddenly sent an invitation to the Heavenly Sword Sect, inviting them to send representatives to the trial.
Upon hearing this news, Feng Lingshuang’s eyes immediately lit up.
Then, to clear the doubts in her heart, she proactively requested her Master for permission to lead the team to the Jin Kingdom for the trial!
Thus, Feng Lingshuang led a group of Heavenly Sword Sect disciples to the Jin Kingdom to participate in the trial.