True Solution of the Sword Dao

London, England, Saint Paul’s Cathedral

The white dome of the cathedral bathed in golden sunlight. Beside it, the green lawn was trimmed into neat, tofu-block shapes. The grey-white cement ground, edged with a row of yellow flowers planted along it, softened the solemnity of the place.

In front of the cathedral, a beautifully handsome man with dazzling blonde hair was dressed in a white suit, standing quietly with his head tilted up, looking at the statue of Queen Anne above the cathedral.

In the early morning hours, there were few tourists entering the church, but each one passing by him couldn’t help but cast several glances at the man.

The golden, eye-catching, neatly arranged long hair cascaded over his shoulders in waves, like threads of gold spun out, pure and natural. Perfect and delicate features, any woman’s ideal visage, and his tall stature, as though all of God’s adjectives for perfection were crafted just for him.

"Like Saint Paul, I too once turned a deaf ear to the Lord’s guidance," the man murmured softly.

"You’re still the same as before, Uncle Auston," said a man with short golden hair, walking up to his side, and lighting a cigarette with ease. Although his own looks were also handsome, they lacked the dazzling perfection of Auston’s.

"IF, the last time I saw you, that was thirteen years ago, wasn’t it?" the man named Auston spoke indifferently.

"If possible, please don’t call me ’if.’ I’m Shunyan, not just an abbreviation," Shunyan drew lightly on his cigarette but couldn’t suppress a cough. "If it were not a last resort, I would not seek you out. Fire Snake is dead, and if I die too, I hope you can break the vow and avenge us."

"Revenge is burning hatred. Isn’t it better to live a calm life free of grudges?" Auston closed his eyes slightly, drawing a cross in the air before him.

Shunyan fell silent for a while, holding the cigarette and saying no more.

"Every morning, I come here to listen in quiet. It has become a habit over more than ten years," Auston lowered his head and glanced at the watch on his wrist.

"Is this also Aili’s wish?" Shunyan asked lightly.

Auston didn’t respond, just turned calmly, as a silver-white stretch Lincoln stopped in front of him.

Until he got in the car, he didn’t utter another word—as if Shunyan were a person completely unrelated to him.

Shunyan watched silently as the Lincoln slowly started moving, distancing itself, until it disappeared around the corner.

"Uncle Auston is still so unnerving," he sighed.

He knew his purpose had been achieved. Killing a person from the Tower of Glory would surely bring forth the expulsion of light.

****************

The brownish-yellow wooden desk, still showing grains of wood, had a square of golden sunlight fall upon it, brightening the entire dim room instantly. Thick curtains blocked out most of the light.

On the walls of the room hung a black and white oil painting of a medieval sailboat. The wooden floor of the same hue as the desk, a half-burnt candle holder, with molten wax snaking down the metal support.

Auston sat silently in front of the wooden desk, his blonde hair flowing over his shoulders, his expression obscured in shadow.

"What do you think of Xisiding?" he asked evenly.

Another raspy voice answered him from a different shadow.

"He doesn’t trust anyone; he only believes in himself. Any overtures are a disaster for him."

"So everyone related to him has left him. A lonely man, Xisiding has reached his end. That’s the price of pushing us away, I suppose," Auston looked towards the bright window outside.

"I’ve sent Andrew to handle the matter of Shunyan and Fire Snake. Though he’s just advanced to Class C, dealing with a Class D should be no problem. If Shunyan doesn’t retrieve the Energy Scepter this time, simply dispose of him according to the system."

****************

Lin Fei gently opened her eyes, sitting quietly in the classroom chair. It was the break between classes, and despite the noise outside, nearly everyone in the classroom was hunched over their desks, some doing problems, some copying words, and some, like Lin Fei, resting with eyes closed.

Practicing the Visualization Qi Cultivation had become a natural habit. Continuously familiarizing herself with the third diagram, making it clearer, slowly reducing the time needed for each session of visualization; she strived to discern the content of the diagram, but every time she reached a critical point, a faint sense of fatigue would set in.

To her, studying was merely a way to appease her parents at the moment. If she chose, she could leave at any time. With the transformation brought by the pseudo True Force, academic learning had become effortless for her: rote memorization, comprehension, analysis, all reached a very high level. She could learn in an hour what took others several days.

So, on the first day back at school, she had already caught up on all the previous lessons,

The life of a high school senior was boring, filled with nothing but questions, exams, practice, exams, practice, everything revolving around review.

Although Lin Fei had strong learning capabilities, he could not possibly score high without attending classes or doing assignments, focusing solely on his matters. He ceased to care after barely managing to pass the subjects. Thus, he remained completely inconspicuous in the class, despite becoming slightly more handsome.

The breakthrough of the third diagram of the Qi Cultivation was imminent, but there was no progress on the Sword Eye inherited from Yan Shi. Therefore, Lin Fei concentrated all his energy on the third diagram, immediately resuming visualization as soon as the cooldown ended, never wasting a moment. He was extremely anticipatory of the impending Tracing Shadow Sword Art. As for the Sword Eye, a breakthrough seemed likely only with the reappearance of pseudo True Force. This deeply layered swordsmanship was almost fully integrated with Yan Shi’s memories.

Slowly closing the textbook on the desk, Lin Fei took out his constantly vibrating phone from his pocket. A new message had just arrived in his inbox.

"There are results about those two people we were investigating. That fruit knife was found in Linglong Mountain."

"Linglong Mountain?" Lin Fei couldn’t help but read aloud. He had a premonition that if he could find even a trace of pseudo True Force again, he would definitely be able to merge all of Yan Shi’s imprints and thus master the Sword Eye. The power of the Sword Eye could certainly reach grade C. Even though he himself didn’t have a clear idea of what grade C was. Furthermore, based on the previous experience, the pseudo True Force also significantly enhanced the progress of Qi Cultivation. He was truly fed up with the slow progress of Qi Cultivation.

"The exact address?" he texted back to little Jing.

"It’s already marked on the map." A satellite image was promptly sent over, with a scarlet dot standing out in the center.

*************

The black cat was sitting on Lin You’s writing desk, daintily lapping at the milk in a small saucer.

"We’re temporarily safe now, right?" asked Lin You, sprawled nearby, languidly. The warm sunshine and its resulting coziness made her completely defenseless against the comfortable sensation.

"For the moment, we could say that," replied the black cat nonchalantly.

"Didn’t those people chasing you suddenly disappear? Isn’t that safe?" wondered Lin You.

"Not chasing me, chasing us," corrected the black cat as it sat on its haunches on the desk, lifting the saucer with both paws and drinking the remaining milk before licking its lips. "The Tower of Glory is collecting Energy Scepters, though I don’t know exactly why, but from the moment you and I formed a contract, our lives were bound together."

"The Tower of Glory?"

"You don’t need to know so much right now. You just need to hurry up and improve your strength," the black cat said seriously, setting down the saucer. "Your mere F-level strength is almost laughable."

"Then how can I increase my strength? Sister Bing once said that there is no shortcut for supernatural abilities, I can only improve through repeated training, and my strength is only at F level," said Lin You helplessly. "Plus, now that I’m in junior year, there are so many study tasks every day..."

"Once you reach the peak of F-level, I can recover some of my own strength. Then I won’t have to rely on you all the time," the black cat replied.

"So you’re saying there’s no shortcut?" Lin You pursed her lips, "All this talk, yet it amounted to nothing."

"Besides, you can find helpers," the black cat gracefully approached and sat down next to Lin You’s face.

"Where would I find helpers? Ever since I met you, I haven’t been able to get through to Sister Bing, and no one from above has contacted me. It’s like I’m completely normal," Lin You lamented.

"They’ve abandoned you," the black cat said disdainfully, "Heresy is like this, afraid to cause trouble. The Tower of Glory is part of the Religious Faction, so they backed off."

"So how can I get out of this situation? I don’t want to be chased for life," Lin You said helplessly.

"Although I’m not sure why the Tower of Glory is collecting Energy Scepters. You should know, the Energy Scepter is the cornerstone of the entire mystical system; it is said that the five Great Energy Scepters determine the stability and peace of the entire Earth..."

"So does that make me a magic girl tasked with maintaining world peace?" Lin You interrupted it irately. "Can you be serious for a moment?" she suddenly startled, "Right, speaking of which, you always say ’you you you’, what’s your name?"

"Tuxedo Mask!" the black cat raised a paw over its left eye.

"Night my foot!" Lin You slapped the black cat hard on the head.

"Okay, you can call me Feil. I am fluent in six languages. Compared to a lowly being like you, I am quite literally the difference between the sun and a firefly!" the black cat continued, utterly self-satisfied despite being slapped.

"There can’t just be one Energy Scepter synthesizer, right?" Lin You suddenly asked a key question.

"To be precise, there are only five Energy Scepters, each inherited by one of the five major families. Considering the treatment I’ve received, the other hereditary families are definitely not in a better situation," Feil, the black cat, finally spoke earnestly. "Only by uniting the power of the five families can the Tower of Glory be wary. That is your task for the future. Moreover, it is said that the person who collects all the Energy Scepters will gain the power of miracles."

"The power of miracles?" Lin You was taken aback.

"Yes, a formidable power that can reach the pinnacle of supernatural abilities," said Feil solemnly.

"Well, it seems I really am a magic girl charged with maintaining world peace..." Lin You said weakly.

"From a certain perspective, that’s true."