She is practicing swordplay

Meanwhile, at the westernmost edge of the Northern Continent.

The current Water God, Reida Reia, had brought her proudest disciple, the Sword King Isolte Cruel.

They arrived at the holy sanctuary in the hearts of all who took up the sword and pursued the Way. This place was called the Holy Land of Swords.

The Holy Land of Swords lay amid steep mountains and the sea at the westernmost point of the Northern Continent.

In truth, it was not very large. About the size of a single town in the Asura Kingdom.

This place was covered in heavy snow all year round, but its current master was the present Sword God of the Sword God Style. Therefore, many of the people in town were Sword God Style swordsmen.

The Sword God Style was the ultimate fusion of speed and killing intent. Taking the three words "fast, ruthless, absolute" as its creed, it sublimated swordsmanship into an art.

Where its blade pointed was both the end of the physical and the embodiment of conviction, perfectly interpreting the martial philosophy of "the sword is the sharp edge of the heart."

That was why Sword God Style swordsmen did not wear complicated armor. Their clothing was as simple as possible, mainly so it would not hinder their movement.

The kind of outfit Ghislaine wore, with especially little fabric, was one of the Sword God Style's main trademarks.

Here, no matter how heavily the snow fell from the sky or how cold the air became, there would always be Sword God Style swordsmen by the roadside wearing only enough clothing to avoid exposing themselves.

The men were basically bare-chested. The women also covered only the necessary parts.

However, swordsmen in this world generally had Battle Aura to protect their bodies, so the temperature they felt was not particularly low.

Perhaps this, too, was one of their methods of training!

After Reida Reia and Isolte arrived at the Holy Land of Swords, they found the Sword God Style dojo.

At the entrance, they saw a red-haired girl sweeping snow. When the girl noticed Reida and the others, she immediately tossed aside her broom.

With a wary expression, she placed her hand on the sword at her waist.

"May I ask what business you two have here?"

Reida stared at the girl's face for a while, then her displeased expression softened slightly as she said:

"Oh? Are you Nina? You've grown up!"

Those words made the girl show a strange expression.

"Sorry, I'm not Nina. If you're looking for her, you can try your luck in the training room inside."

Reida Reia took a careful look at the girl's hair color and realized she had made a mistake.

"Oh, sorry, I got it wrong. I'm here to find your boss. Lead the way."

"Boss?"

"Gal Farion."

"Sorry, I'm not a guide. If you're looking for someone, go bother someone else."

At that moment, Isolte stepped forward.

"What kind of attitude is that? Do you know who my master is, to dare shoot your mouth off here?"

"Hmph. I don't care who it is, and that includes that stinking old uncle Gal Farion!"

Isolte was stunned by what she said. She had never imagined there would be someone in the Sword God Style dojo who dared speak ill of the current Sword God.

At that moment, Reida Reia stopped Isolte from continuing.

"You have good spirit, and that arrogance of bowing to no one. You're fine material for the Sword God Style.

Not bad! But you should understand that what is too rigid breaks easily.

Just based on what you said, if I cut you down just now, no one would have said I was in the wrong.

No matter how arrogant you are, dead is dead. You need to find the right measure.

Fine material that dies young is still scrap."

At that moment, a Beast-kin woman with ears that looked like either a dog's or a wolf's stepped out from the entrance hall.

She bowed to Reida Reia.

"Lady Water God, thank you very much for your instruction. I apologize to you on behalf of my young disciple.

Master Gal Farion is currently in the main hall. He already knows you have arrived."

"Oh, is that Ghislaine? After all these years, you've grown too. I still remember the first time I met you. You were even more arrogant than this disciple of yours.

When you saw me, you even bared your teeth at me. That posture of recognizing neither kin nor reason is still vivid in my mind!"

Ghislaine's face remained expressionless, and she maintained her respectful posture as she said:

"When I was young, I was indeed somewhat arrogant, but now I have already restrained myself. However, Master is not very satisfied with my current state. He says I'm no different from a kitten with its fangs pulled out. I feel that I have disappointed him.

However, Master currently holds exceptional expectations for my disciple, Eris. He even takes the initiative to come over and teach Eris swordsmanship now.

So the Sword God Style truly needs that kind of momentum that charges straight ahead without looking back.

If this sword breaks, then it breaks. But if this sword withstands the trial and endures, then she will be the sharpest treasured blade."

Reida Reia did not refute her. To her surprise, she nodded.

Then she followed Ghislaine into the main hall. While they were talking, Eris had also finished sweeping the snow from the ground. Afterward, she too followed Ghislaine into the main hall.

At the head of the main hall sat an uncle who looked to be in his forties, his face covered in a beard that looked as if it would hurt terribly to touch. His smile was frivolous and cynical, without the slightest bearing of a grandmaster.

But below him, all the Sword God Style Sword Emperors and Sword Saints did not dare say even half a word in his presence. They all held this Sword God of the current generation in the utmost respect.

Because he was the current ceiling of humanity's combat strength, the sixth of the current Seven Great Powers, Sword God Gal Farion.

After Ghislaine led Reida Reia and Isolte into the hall, the originally lively hall fell silent all at once.

All the Sword God Style swordsmen stared warily at the two people in the center.

Ghislaine, and Eris who followed after her, naturally knelt at the seats to the side.

Gal Farion cast a cynical glance at Reida Reia and Isolte, then said to Reida Reia:

"What is it, old hag? You know your days are numbered, so you came over to see if you could take back the Holy Land of Swords one more time?

"With that body of yours, I doubt you could even withstand three of my swords. You should hurry home and arrange your funeral affairs."

Reida Reia did not get angry either, and smiled.

"Gal, you only have these few years left to prance around here. What, after throwing your weight around in the Holy Land of Swords for so long, you no longer know how many catties and taels you weigh?

"If you're so amazing, why haven't I seen you challenge the other members of the Seven Great Powers? Your position as sixth hasn't changed in thirty years, has it?

"Don't bother saying those useless things either. This old woman is already over seventy, and I have no intention of fighting you to decide who is superior.

"However, you and I are both of the older generation now. The sword path of today belongs to the young.

"I brought a disciple today, and I'd like her to learn some Sword God Style techniques here with you. Why not let the younger generation spar a little?"

Gal Farion raised his eyebrows and said with great interest, "I was wondering what this was about. So you brought a disciple to show off. Fine!"

Then he said to the Sword Saints below, "Which of you wants to try?"

Immediately, many Sword Saints stood up, indicating that they wanted to give it a try.

Reida Reia stood off to the side, leaving the field to Isolte.

Isolte stood in the arena holding a wooden sword, sparring with various Sword Saints.

To state the result directly, after Isolte had sparred with most of the Sword Saints present, her record was thirteen wins and one loss.

This result was already extremely impressive. That was because in the first twelve matches against the Sword Saints, she won rather easily.

It could be said that she had beaten everyone in the Sword God Style dojo until their eyes went red.

One of the Sword Emperor's sons, the youngest Sword Saint, Gino, was defeated under Isolte's attack without even withstanding a single move.

For the Sword God Style, which emphasized taking the initiative to attack, this could be called a humiliation.

The one who went up in the twelfth match was Eris. She exchanged more than ten consecutive moves with Isolte. In the end, under circumstances where they traded injury for injury, she fell short by half a move—or rather, her ability to withstand blows was insufficient—and was defeated by Isolte.

Nina Farion, who went up last in the thirteenth match, basically counted as picking up a bargain. If it had been a clean thirteen victories, then the Sword God Style and the Water God Style would basically have torn off all pretense of cordiality.

Isolte also knew that during this period, she had to temper her swordsmanship here, and could not offend these people to death.

So while injured, she continued to spar with Nina Farion, and lost this match beautifully.

Reida Reia was extremely satisfied with her disciple's performance.

She smiled and said to Gal Farion:

"This disciple of mine is only twenty this year, but she is already a Water King. So it's unavoidable that she bullied the Sword Saints here a little.

"I brought her here this time because I want to temper her sword path. After this, why not let her train together with the disciples here under the teachers?

"Later, we can find that red-haired girl from just now and Nina, and let the three of them cultivate together, urging one another to grow.

"Gal, what do you think?"

The corners of Gal Farion's mouth twitched a little. After the results of today's sparring, he wanted to expel every Sword Saint from the school except Eris and Nina.

But in the end, he still held back.

With the corners of his mouth slightly out of harmony, he said:

"This disciple of yours is not bad. I agree to let her train here. Reida, I didn't expect that someone who's about to ascend to the heavens like you could still find such a powerful disciple.

"Your luck really is good. But what a pity. Your age won't allow you to see her take over your mantle. She is still a fair distance from your realm."

"Haha, Gal, she is only one of my disciples. But I can tell you responsibly that she is not my strongest disciple.

"This disciple of mine, Isolte, can at most take over my mantle. If you want her to take back the Holy Land of Swords, it's still somewhat difficult.

"But Gal, I have another disciple. Once he grows up, your Holy Land of Swords will absolutely belong to our Water God Style.

"I hope you live a little longer. When the time comes, he will take back the Holy Land of Swords for our Water God Style.

"Perhaps when that time comes, he won't just take back the Holy Land of Swords, but even take your title as one of the Seven Great Powers along with it.

"You can look forward to that day coming."

The corners of Gal Farion's mouth twitched even harder. He believed that Reida Reia was not lying to him.

Because this girl who had accepted the challenges today possessed enough potential to fight him.

If that other disciple she spoke of was even stronger than the one before him now, then when the time came, it would definitely be an intense battle.

He was a little excited now. He hoped that day would come soon.

If he only ran into an opponent like that after he had already grown old, that would truly be a depressing thing.

Over the next few days, Isolte, Eris, and Nina—the three most talented young members of the Water God Style and Sword God Style at present—studied swordsmanship together, sparred with one another, and lived together.

History had inertia. Even though this time Eris did not have the goal of needing to kill Orsted, nor had she met Ruijerd, she had still studied the Sword God Style together with Ghislaine all along, and through her own talent and unwillingness to lose, had trained the Sword God Style to Saint rank.

However, she lacked that brute's essence of killing her opponent by any means necessary, and had become more like a swordswoman.

So when she and Nina began studying the Sword God Style, there had not been any major disputes between them, nor had she beaten Nina until she wet herself.

But Eris still had no particular talent for getting along with people. After studying here for nearly a year, she had not made a single friend.

Still, she had already grown used to this kind of life. She had only one goal: to work hard and improve her own strength.

To have the strength to protect her family, and to have the qualifications to stand before him and fight alongside him.

As the saying went, three women made a stage play. Though all three were sword fanatics, and their only goal every day was to rack their brains for ways to improve their sword techniques, life was not made up of swords alone. No matter how high one's level reached, one still needed to eat, drink, relieve oneself, sleep, and deal with firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.

So with the three women eating and living together, it was inevitable that they would chat about gossip outside of swordsmanship.

The topic was brought up by Isolte. After all, she had seen more of the world, and the people she knew and the places she had lived were closer to ordinary life.

"Did Eris and Nina grow up in the Holy Land of Swords from childhood? I see that when you practice the sword every day, the others are always staring at you!

"Are there any senior or junior disciples who have caught your eye?"

When it came to communicating with people, Nina was much better than Eris, so before Eris could answer, Nina jumped in first:

"Yeah, I've lived here since I was little. There are a lot of senior and junior disciples, and plenty of them have played with me since we were kids, so sometimes we're just too familiar.

"I haven't thought about liking any senior or junior disciple for now. After all, we've been together for too long. And I prefer strong men. Their swordsmanship is all too rotten.

"They can't even beat me, so forget about anyone catching my eye.

"Sigh, we're just too outstanding, so that's why it's hard to find partners, right?"

When Isolte heard Nina's words, which sounded like a complaint but were really showing off, she unconsciously laughed.

"Haha, I'm different. Although there are also many children practicing swordsmanship in our Water God Style dojo, and several around my age too, "my junior disciple has always been the person I like most. I began practicing the sword with him when we were four. He has always been the one I chased after.

"His family background is very good, but he doesn't look down on me. He often coaxes me and goes shopping with me. On my birthday, he even gives me presents.

"Look at this sword. He gave it to me.

"My obsession with practicing the sword isn't to grind out a higher realm on the sword's edge, nor is it to compete over some worldly superiority.

"It is only because I want to make myself qualified to stand at his side, and to possess the qualification to become his wife."

These words from Isolte could be said to be a complete victory. Nina simply could not imagine that a woman could practice the sword so hard in order to marry a man.

In her view, wasn't practicing the sword for the sake of fighting for higher status and making more people worship you? Yet someone actually practiced the sword only to marry another person.

This simply shattered Nina's worldview. She looked toward Eris as if searching for a life-saving straw.

She said to Eris, "Eris, why do you practice the sword? Aren't you a noble of Asura? I remember your family seems to have fallen into decline because of the Teleportation Incident, right?

"Are you working hard to rebuild your family?"

For Nina, as long as Eris practiced the sword to revive her family, then she herself had not lost.

After all, reviving a family's fame was more or less the same choice as her current practice of the sword to strive for higher status and renown.

But tragedy still occurred. She only heard Eris say:

"I'm about the same! I practice the sword only to protect my family. I don't want to lose family again."

Hearing this, Nina nodded in satisfaction. However, Eris had not finished speaking.

"And also so I can fight together with the person I love. I don't like the feeling of being protected. I hope I can stand before him and face the enemies that come with him."

Nina felt as if a bolt from a clear blue sky had split her open and chilled her to the core.

"Your beloved couldn't also be some senior or junior disciple, could he?"

"Oh, no. He's my cousin."

Nina had nothing left to say. Sigh. She felt as if the eighteen years of her life had all been lived in vain.

Her swordsmanship was not as good as others', and emotionally she had been utterly defeated too. Every day, she only knew how to put on airs among a bunch of children who had not grown up.

Playing house with a bunch of children who had not grown up—she had actually lost so thoroughly.

She secretly swore that she would definitely work hard to surpass the two of them. Even if her swordsmanship could not surpass theirs, her future husband would definitely have to be more impressive than theirs.

After discovering that Eris had circumstances similar to her own, Isolte's relationship with Eris became even better. They would occasionally recount, in detail, the little moments of life with their junior disciple and cousin.

Sometimes they compared with each other, and sometimes they felt happy over the other's romantic scenes.

As for Nina at the side, she practiced the sword seriously.