After staying for lunch at the Sword-Casting Manor, Song Yan returned to the little courtyard in Bamboo Grove, Linghua Valley.
Linghua Valley had been considerate: the courtyard came equipped with a simple protective formation.
It offered little defense, serving only to tell others that he was in brief secluded cultivation and should not be disturbed.
He activated it with spiritual power and sat alone in the courtyard.
Only after taking a moment to regulate his breathing did he begin examining his recent gains.
First, he took out the dark blue case.
He summoned his spiritual power, forming a Water Curtain, and washed the case thoroughly.
The case was three feet and three inches long, roughly a palm wide.
Dark blue all over, it bore cloud patterns like flowing water, visible upon close inspection.
"The craftsmanship is exquisite..."
In truth, this was Song Yan's first time seeing a "Sword Case." He had no idea of the quality of the one before him and could only offer a vague judgment of his own.
"Why was it abandoned unfinished in the Yan Clan's old sword forge?"
He turned it over and over, examining it from every angle.
Hm?
Song Yan's gaze sharpened.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered a pattern in the lower-left corner of the case.
That looks familiar...
Not much time had passed, and Song Yan soon remembered.
From his Heaven and Earth Bag, he summoned the flying sword Joined Branches.
The winding pattern along its blade resembled a branch of green plum, rather like the pattern at the lower left of the case.
But before he could take the summoned flying sword in hand to compare them closely, it turned into a streak of sword light on its own and plunged into the Sword Case!
Hum-
The Two-Pole Bead stirred again,