Lin Xinghe's toes had barely touched the green tile when the back of her neck grew cool.
Night wind swept past her ears, carrying the scent of osmanthus. Pressed against the shadows of the eaves, she watched a figure in black pass through the moon gate below.
The stranger's footsteps were as light as feathers, yet every step managed to deftly avoid the light of the Lin Residence's patrolling lanterns—this was no ordinary visitor, but rather someone intimately familiar with the estate's layout, an undercover operative.
"Three days from now, at the hour of the rat, Sword Cliff."
A very low male voice suddenly drifted into her ear.
Lin Xinghe's whole body stiffened. She lowered her posture, the wooden hairpin in her hair grazing the tiles and making a faint sound.
Fortunately, the figure in black had already reached the veranda, and the conversation with Lin Feng was blocked by a bamboo screen, leaving only broken fragments: "...blood sacrifice array... Yuehe's Life Plate... Sword Tomb..."
"Yuehe?" A metallic taste rose in the back of Lin Xinghe's throat.
Her younger sister's name was like a fine needle, piercing precisely into her most strained nerves.
She remembered the half-drop of broth that had shaken from Lin Yuehe's medicinal bowl this morning. That little girl who always huddled in the corner of the veranda—her fingers had been bleached white by the medicinal brew, yet when she looked up, she had said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Elder sister, I smelled the stench of rotting flesh in the Medicine Pavilion last night."
The stench of rotting flesh.
Lin Xinghe's fingernails dug into her palms.
She stared at Lin Feng's hand, which was hidden behind his back—that hand was gripping half a piece of black jade, its grain strikingly similar to the Sword Tomb Jade Pendant her mother had shoved into her arms before she died.
As the figure in black turned, the jade pendant at his waist chimed crisply.
Lin Xinghe's pupils contracted slightly—that was the "Soundless Pendant" most commonly found in the Xuanxiao City black market, used specifically to mask a martial artist's aura.
Yet at that moment, she clearly caught sight of a faint, bleeding trace within the luster of the jade, closely resembling the forbidden art totem on the stone wall of the third level of the Sword Tomb Secret Realm.
"I can't wait any longer." Lin Xinghe bit the tip of her tongue, tasting iron.
She felt for the jade pendant at her neck, its icy touch spreading down her collarbone. It was the only token of remembrance her mother had left behind.
Ever since she was cast out by the family, she chopped wood in the Firewood Room by day and slipped into the secret realm to cultivate by night. Every breakthrough exhausted her cultivation base, but when the light patterns of the Sixth Layer Sword Soul crawled onto the jade pendant, she clearly heard the sound of swords ringing from the depths of the Sword Tomb.
More importantly, during the fifth trial, she had seen her mother's lingering phantom.
That woman who always wore a moon-white dress had smiled at her amidst the Sword Qi, saying, "Ahe, having a Sword Soul enter your body is not a curse; it is the blade with which you sever karma."
When the figure in black disappeared around the corner of the estate's gate, Lin Feng suddenly looked up toward the eaves where she was.
Lin Xinghe's breathing halted, but she saw him merely rub the bridge of his nose and turn toward the main courtyard—the black jade at his waist was still glowing, like a malevolent eye.
"I must break through as soon as possible." Lin Xinghe slid against the base of the wall into the flowerbeds, her night-walker attire torn by thorns.
She fished out half a flatbread from her bosom; Nanny Su had stuffed it into her hands this morning. Hidden inside the bread was a slip of paper: "After the curfew, the old pagoda tree hole by the well holds the remnant scroll of the *Blood-Coagulation Art*." The old servant's handwriting was crooked, yet it reminded her of the cold light that had flashed in Nanny Su's eyes yesterday when the Second Madam slapped her—that old woman who always wiped pots in the kitchen had half a bronze ring exposed at her cuff, which matched the lock core pattern in the ancestral hall's secret chamber perfectly.
When the moon reached the middle of the sky, Lin Xinghe squatted by the back window of the Firewood Room, checking the jade pendant by moonlight.
The six star patterns on its surface were growing hot, like six tiny suns.
She closed her eyes briefly, pressing her fingertips against the jade pendant, and the familiar sensation of dizziness washed over her—this was the secret code to enter the Sword Tomb.
When she opened her eyes again, she was already standing at the entrance of the secret realm.
Yun Wufeng was leaning against the stone arch, twirling his wine gourd, his hair tips still damp with dew. "Little girl, you're early today." His cyan robe had a hole in it, revealing a bandage-wrapped arm beneath, but his gaze was shockingly bright. "The Sword Soul Cavern has opened. Want to go take a look?"
"Is this for the Netherworld Plan?" Lin Xinghe asked directly.
She remembered three days ago on the second level of the secret realm, she had heard Yun Wufeng and Baili arguing. "You clearly know that thing will awaken—" "Shut up!" Baili's voice back then had been as cold as an ice pick. "She isn't ready yet."
Yun Wufeng paused in twirling his wine gourd, then suddenly laughed out loud. "Little fox, your ears are sharp." He turned and walked deeper in, his heel kicking against a piece of broken jade. "The Sword Souls in that cavern were raised by the Sword Saint using his own flesh and blood. If you want to break through the Sixth Layer, you must first cross the Sea of Sword Souls."
Blue phosphor fire drifted at the entrance of the cavern.
The moment Lin Xinghe stepped inside, she felt thousands of fine needles pierce her bone marrow.
Hundreds of ancient swords hung upside down from the cavern ceiling, each sword entwined with a translucent Sword Soul, struggling like extracted spirits.
On the central stone platform hovered the Seventh Sword Soul, shimmering with the light of a galaxy.
"Every layer you absorb exacts an equal amount of backlash." Yun Wufeng leaned against the cavern wall, the wine in his gourd reflecting the light of the Sword Soul. "If you turn back now, you can still keep half your life and go back to being a maid in the Lin Family."
Lin Xinghe did not turn back.
She stared at those struggling Sword Souls, suddenly remembering the nights she was locked in the Firewood Room, when the Third Elder's son Lin Yue had kicked open the door and lifted her chin with the tip of his sword. "The legitimate daughter? Nothing more than good-for-nothing trash without a Dantian." His blade had sliced open her cheek, and her blood fell to the ground, only to be ground to pieces beneath his sole. "When that little medicine pot Yuehe dies, let's see who protects you then."
"I am not turning back." Lin Xinghe's voice echoed in the cavern.
She removed the jade pendant, pressing it to her chest. The light patterns of the Sixth Layer Sword Soul suddenly surged, drilling into her glabella like a living silver snake.
Excruciating pain exploded from the top of her head. She staggered and crashed into the stone wall, her palm cut by jagged rocks. A drop of blood fell to the ground and actually hissed—the sound of it being corroded by the Sword Soul.
"Idiot!"
A cold, crisp female voice suddenly exploded beside her ear.
Baili's figure rushed out from the jade pendant, chains wrapped around her entire body, every single chain piercing into her spirit.
She raised a hand and clamped onto the back of Lin Xinghe's neck, her fingertips oozing with a ghostly blue light. "Circulate the *Blood-Coagulation Art* and guide the blood to your Governor and Conception vessels!"
Only then did Lin Xinghe remember the remnant scroll Nanny Su had given her.
Gritting her teeth, she circulated the cultivation technique. Fresh blood coursed through her meridians, burning into white flames wherever it passed.
The silver snake of the Sword Soul was forced into a ball by the blood flames, only to explode violently at her Dantian—which had originally been a mass of ruined mud, but was now being reshaped by the Sword Soul like a piece of jade being fired in a kiln.
"The Sixth Layer!" Yun Wufeng's wine gourd dropped to the ground with a "clack."
He rushed over and grabbed Lin Xinghe's wrist, his pupils reflecting the starlight swirling in her Dantian. "Sword Souls entering the body to reshape the Dantian... The old bastard really did leave a backup plan."
Lin Xinghe collapsed, sitting on the ground, sweat soaking her back.
She looked at her palms; the wounds originally corroded by the Sword Soul were healing, and scraps of starlight flowed beneath her skin.
Baili's figure began to fade, bloodstains lashed across her body by the chains, yet her voice softened somewhat. "Next time... don't be so reckless."
"Thanks." Lin Xinghe forced a smile.
She fished out the flatbread from her bosom, broke off half, and handed it to Yun Wufeng. "Nanny Su baked it. She put osmanthus in it."
Yun Wufeng took the bread, his smile suddenly fading. "Three days from now, at Sword Cliff." He took a bite of the bread, the osmanthus fragrance diffusing through the cavern. "The place Lin Feng is going to is where the ancestors of the Lin Family buried their swords. There is a blood sacrifice array there, specifically used to..."
"Used to what?" Lin Xinghe pressed.
Yun Wufeng stared at the Sword Souls on the cavern ceiling and suddenly said, "The stench of rotting flesh your sister smelled in the Medicine Pavilion yesterday is corpse poison." His voice lowered. "The Netherworld Plan requires the Life Plate of a living person as a primer. And Yuehe... is the only person in this generation of the Lin Family born in the Yin year, Yin month, and Yin hour."
Lin Xinghe's fingers tightened around the jade pendant.
She could hear her own heartbeat like a drum, every single beat saying: "Go save her, go kill them." Yet she merely stood up and patted the dust from the hem of her skirt. "I should head back."
"Aren't you afraid?" Yun Wufeng raised an eyebrow.
"Afraid." Lin Xinghe gazed at the moonlight outside the cavern. "But when I'm afraid, my sword becomes sharper."
When she left the secret realm, the temperature of the jade pendant gradually faded.
Returning to the Firewood Room, Lin Xinghe found an oil-paper parcel on the windowsill—it was hot porridge Nanny Su had smuggled to her, still steaming.
She drank two mouthfuls, then suddenly paused: on the pagoda tree outside the window, a leaf was moving.
It was not the wind.
Lin Xinghe put down her bowl and picked up the firewood-chopping blade by the corner.
She pushed open the door, the night wind making the lanterns sway, illuminating two figures in the courtyard—Lin Feng stood with his back to her, standing before the rockery with a man in black.
The man in black turned his face. Under the moonlight, his face was covered in grayish-green scales, his pupils vertical like a snake's.
"Elder sister?"
A weak voice came from behind her.
Lin Xinghe turned and saw Lin Yuehe holding a medicine box standing at the doorway of the Firewood Room, her pale face stained with medicinal juice.
The little girl stared at the two figures in the courtyard, her fingers clutching the bronze lock of the medicine box tightly. A cold light flashed in the depths of her eyes—a look Lin Xinghe was entirely familiar with, the same look Yuehe had worn when she used a shard of broken porcelain to slice open Lin Yue's hand back when they were locked in the Firewood Room.
In the courtyard, the man in black spoke: "Yuehe's Life Plate must be secured before the full moon."
Lin Xinghe's hand pressed against the jade pendant at her neck.
The Sixth Layer Sword Soul surged within her body like a ball of fire ready to erupt at any moment.
She looked at her younger sister, then back at the two figures in the courtyard, and said softly, "Yuehe, go back inside."
The little girl instead took a step forward, and the sound of glass bottles colliding came from inside the medicine box.
When she raised her head, the moonlight happened to shine on the outer corner of her eye, where a red mole rested like a drop of solidified blood.
In the courtyard, Lin Feng's voice drifted over: "Rest assured, once she obtains the Sixth Layer Sword Soul..."
Lin Xinghe's breathing halted.
She looked at her sister and suddenly understood—so Yuehe had known everything all along, just as she knew about the poisonous powder Yuehe hid inside the medicine box and the poisoned silver needles hidden beneath her bed.
The night wind whipped up a fallen leaf, striking the ground near Lin Xinghe's feet.
She stared at the two figures in the courtyard, then down at the sister by her side, a very faint smile curving the corners of her lips.
On this night, the moon over the Lin Residence was exceptionally bright.