In the past, ironically, this Galaxy Peak was also called the Starsword Peak — the same name that Zhu Xuelian’s little mountain retreat currently possessed. Though, this was not an indicator or premonition that Zhu Xuelian would end up the next sect master — that would be outrageous. It was just a coincidence. The sect master’s peak was always the Galaxy Peak.

  Wu Yulan did not go with Zhu Xuelian this time, as she wasn’t invited. Even when Zhu Xuelian insisted that Wu Yulan come anyway, the latter refused.

  “I should make sure that those elders don’t try anything, so I’ll be flying around and keeping an eye out,” she said and departed.

  The sect master’s house was a rather simple creation. It could barely be called a hut. Of course, even a hut for cultivators was like an expansive villa to ordinary mortals, but this really was a simple, ordinary hut. At best, it only had two rooms.

  When Zhu Xuelian opened the door and entered, she regretted ever thinking it had only two rooms. The reception area was as large as Zhu Xuelian’s entire home, and she had to step back and look at the hut from the outside again, just to reconcile what her reason was telling her, and what her eyes were telling her.

  Then she entered again, and walked down the center of the chamber, toward the stele on the other side of the chamber. The sect’s ancestral stone was here, and though it was called a stone, it was a piece of metal, shaped like a stone, with blazing red letters inscribed on it.

  Zhu Xuelian could not decipher the symbols, but she knew that this was the sect’s namestone. It was a tradition of the sects of old that functioned almost like a birth certificate. It announced, to heaven mostly, that the Galaxy Sword exists, and claims this domain in its name.

  Behind the sect’s ancestral stone, Zhu Xuelian could vaguely make out the shape of an elderly person, sitting on a cushion.

  “This junior greets esteemed sect master,” Zhu Xuelian said and cupped her fist to the sect master. It would be customary for a disciple to prostrate before the sect master, but Zhu Xuelian wasn’t certain if she was still a disciple.

  “My, my, the youth today is quite ferocious and sharp,” the sect master said, with a humming tone of approval. “Now that I see you more closely, I am even more impressed.”

  “Your words flatter me, sect master, but this junior is not that special,” Zhu Xuelian said.

  “Is that so?” The sect master asked. "Are you trying to deceive this old man?"

  “Sect master, this Zhu Xuelian wouldn't dare. She isn’t just being humble; Wu Yulan is truly a child of destiny, compared to me. Her swordsmanship is much better, and her roots are truly blessed,” Zhu Xuelian said. “Did you know she passed all fourteen floors of the Pagoda of Introspection?”

  “Oh? That is quite an achievement. How many did you pass?”

  “… Six…”

  The sect master laughed. His laughter was so loud that each syllable struck Zhu Xuelian like gale-force winds. But she laughed too. She could tell that the sect master wasn’t ridiculing her. He laughed for the same reason that Zhu Xuelian did.

  The Pagoda of Introspection really did not matter even in the slightest bit, and two heaven-blessed cultivators could have such vastly different results, and still climb to the top!

  “And then there’s You Huaming,” Zhu Xuelian said. “I looked at her once, and I could instantly tell. She was special.”

  “Ah, from the Guardian Sect? It sounds like they will have quite a successor. Have you met Wulei and Feixue?”

  “Yes, sect master. Elder Qin— Feixue took me into her palace,” Zhu Xuelian said.

  “Is that so? I would’ve thought that Wulei would have snatched you from her. Little Wulei quite likes to collect little treasures like you. She would’ve been overjoyed to be your master or provide you instructions.”

  Zhu Xuelian chuckled. “Well, maybe something like that did happen? We came to ask her for instructions, and she tossed us into the Perilous Sword Valley.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Once again, the sect master burst out laughing. “Sounds like you received her favor after all. The heavens grant you all these gifts, and you still have the guts to say you are not that special.”

  “Sect master,” Zhu Xuelian said, with a small smile, “The heavens grant deluges of flowers, but all I want is to seek the apex with my friends at my sides, and no swords on my neck.”

  Zhu Xuelian could not see it clearly, but she could tell that the sect master smiled.

  “Zhu Xuelian,” after a long moment of silence, the sect master spoke again. “I am quite gladdened to see that this new generation is so great. I know I can leave things to you."

  “Sect master…” Zhu Xuelian began but trailed off. “I don’t know if I am still a disciple of the sect… After today…”

  “Why wouldn't you be?” the sect master asked. “Your peak is here. You have the sect’s Ark. You have this old man’s hopes and support. What does that make you, if not the sect’s successor and legacy heir?”

  Zhu Xuelian scrambled several steps back, dropping to her knees. “Sect master… this… I cannot accept.”

  “The sect is not a vow, or loyalty, or a robe you wear. It is in your heart. The mountain can fall. The disciples and elders can die. The Ark and this stone can be lost. But if it lives in your heart, if your heart lives, the sect lives.”

  Zhu Xuelian narrowed her eyes.

  “This sect did not treat you well,” the sect master continued. “I know all about your adventures and misadventures. But that life you seek — didn’t you find it here, on that Starsword Peak?”

  Zhu Xuelian’s eyes widened. She remained silent for a long time, before speaking once more.

  “Sect master, may I ask why you are telling me this?” Zhu Xuelian asked.

  “This old man has a favor to ask of you, Zhu Xuelian,” the sect master said.

  “What is it, sect master?”

  A jade slip slid across the floor and landed in front of Zhu Xuelian.

  “Should the day come that this sect should fall, and there are still those foolish enough to worship this stone… will you give them your help?”

  Zhu Xuelian took the jade slip into her hand and looked at it. She didn’t have to use her spiritual senses — which she could no longer use — to know what this thing was, and what it contained.

  The true inheritances of the Galaxy Sword sect.

  Zhu Xuelian stared at the jade slip, as the sect master’s words rang inside her head. Then, she finally chuckled and squeezed the piece of jade in her hand. Her heart loosened. She didn't feel so afraid of the sect master anymore.

  “What’s the matter?” the sect master asked.

  “Sect master, please forgive this junior, but she just realized that you must have grown soft and senile in your advanced age,” she said, with a big smile, and tears in her eyes.

  Her words shocked the sect master, but he couldn’t help but laugh.

  “To give things like this to some stranger, with whom you share no bond or debt with — it really is dangerous,” Zhu Xuelian said, forcing her tone to remain even and upbeat, even as her heart squeezed with pain. “The sect will fall? Old man, don’t you know? This is the Galaxy Sword sect! You must be dreaming! But, just to put your mind at ease, this Zhu Xuelian will hang onto this jade, to put your heart at ease, and give it to someone who deserves it. When you shuffle off the mortal coil and meet our ancestors, of course. No offense, sect master.”

  “Of course, of course,” the sect master said, laughing thunderously. The entire sect could hear his joyful laughter as it rang through the mountains and the valleys. To some, it sounded like a demon howling, but for some reason, the elders all had tearful, happy expressions.

  They had not heard their sect master laugh in hundreds of years.

  “As for your request, this Zhu Xuelian does not forget her debts. If someone is still sentimental enough to play in Pagodas of Introspection or worship an old man’s corpse, I will be sure to watch over them and let them enjoy their delusions!”

  The sect master laughed even harder, slapping his knee. “Quite right! Quite right! Well said!”

  Though she smiled, a tear fell from Zhu Xuelian’s cheek.

  She had seen this before. She saw it in Wu Yulan. She saw it in herself.

  When someone was making their peace and preparing to die for something they loved, knowing this death was coming soon.

  Despite the wordplay and the staggering breach of conduct, the hidden meaning of this meeting was a farewell, and perhaps a bet against the future.

  “All right, you little brat. Get lost. Get out of here. Go take that Ark of yours and travel the world. Treating your ancestor like this… maybe this old man spoke too soon. Your generation is rotten to the core!”

  Zhu Xuelian nodded. “You spoiled us too much, sect master. This… you can only have yourself to blame.”

  “That is what we “grandpas” do, no?” The sect master hummed.

  Zhu Xuelian stood up and cupped her fist to the sect master. She lowered her head, so he couldn’t see her tears.

  She hated it when good people had to die. She hated the feeling that she was losing good people in her life, while the rotten ones continued to feast on her misery. She hated that she couldn't speak the words she cherished in her heart, freely.\

  This one time, she would make an exception.

  “Farewell, grandpa,” she said, with a big smile, and warmth in her heart.

  The sect master’s laughter roared even louder than before, shaking the very sky. And it troubled everyone deeply because everyone could hear his bellows in between fits of laughter.

  “You are still here? Hahaha! Scram! Hahah! Get lost! When I find my slippers, I will beat you up if you are still there!! Hahaha!”

  Somewhere else, the elders of the Galaxy Sword sect regarded the Galaxy Peak from a distance, all wearing happy expressions.

  “For a moment, I thought the master’s granddaughters were still alive.”

  “Those were wonderful times.”

  After a brief pause, one by one, they all kowtowed toward the peak. “Thank you.”

  Though who, or for what, they were thanking, they would never say, and no one would ever know.