The [World Tree] Conjecture, All [True Images]; Cultivating the Sword Diagram, Floating Life Crowdfunding

At the Ten-Thousand-Sword Yun Family estate, an elegant guest courtyard nestled quietly amid bamboo groves on the eastern slopes of Second Sword Peak.

It was midnight.

A full moon hung high overhead, its clear radiance spilling like water into the courtyard and over three figures, draping them in gauzy white and lending them an air of otherworldly grace.

Lin Changheng sat on a stone stool, his green robe loosely draped around him. His posture was relaxed, a faint smile on his face, yet his hand never stopped kneading something.

It was a Sword-Shaped Treasure Artifact Embryo, emerald green throughout, with a slender blade and flowing spiritual light.

It had belonged to Yun Zhi, but now had a new owner.

"Hum-hum-"

The Treasure Artifact Sword Embryo trembled constantly in his hand, emitting a low hum.

There was resentment in that sound, and plaintive sorrow, as though it were calling for its master, only to be suppressed by a powerful tide of magical power, unable to break free.

The emerald radiance on the Sword Embryo flickered. Each tremor was an attempt to escape Lin Changheng's control, but like a mayfly trying to shake a tree, its efforts were futile. Instead, Lin Changheng continued stroking the patterns on its surface with keen interest.

"Good stuff."

He praised it inwardly. Its spirituality is already seventy or eighty percent developed. A third-tier Artifact Refiner must have made it, giving it thirty percent spirituality straight out of the furnace. Yun Zhi has nurtured it well over the years, too. At least this fine material hasn't been wasted.

He raised his eyes toward Yun Zhi, who stood nearby.

Her head was slightly bowed, and she truly did not spare the Natal Treasure Artifact Embryo a single glance, as though it had nothing to do with her.

Moonlight