The River of Time flowed on, and no one could evade the Thirteenth Sword. No matter how powerful they were, everyone had to face it. That was what made the Sword Sect's Thirteen Swords invincible.
The reason only Star Envoys could comprehend it wasn't that it required a certain cultivation realm. Rather, its wielder had to be deeply familiar with emotion. Reaching the Star Envoy level took many years, and that was something one had to endure to cultivate the Thirteenth Sword.
The Thirteenth Sword required emotion.
Liu Tianmu had never experienced emotion. From the moment she was born, she had been a peerless genius, chosen by the Thirteen Swords and standing head and shoulders above her peers. Who would dare speak to her of love? Even the Ten Arbiters kept their distance. She couldn't find anyone to love even if she wanted to. As for familial affection, she had even less of that. Cultivators could stand tall among the stars, yet fail to obtain the simple affection ordinary people shared. It was a sorrow many cultivators knew.
Liu Tianmu had known neither romantic nor familial love, which was why she hadn't fully comprehended the Thirteenth Sword.
But Liu Tianmu was a genius in her own right. Everyone believed emotion meant romantic or familial love, and that these were the deepest forms of it. But she believed there was another kind: devotion. Devotion to the sword, devotion to cultivation. That, too, was emotion. It was her emotion, and it was what she had built the Thirteenth Sword upon.
A breeze swept past, lifting Liu Tianmu's hair. It followed the sword, crossing the golden platform and blowing through the Shanhai Realm.
Everyone felt something strange. In that moment, the breeze stirred countless thoughts, making it impossible for them to focus completely