Be Gentle, Immortal Master

The disciple smiled. "Master Luo Ji is ready for you," he said and turned towards the entrance in a bow.

I sighed in relief. I didn't know what exactly they were expecting as the right answer to the test, but if the master was willing to see me, then I should've passed. I followed the disciple's lead and bowed towards the entrance as well, just as the door opened and Luo Ji walked into the pavilion.

"Have a seat," he waved a hand, and a tea table appeared in the middle of the room that was all empty a moment ago. "The benches are real—won't break when you sit on them," he laughed when he saw my bewildered expression. "The illusion had simply hidden it from you earlier."

I nodded, exclaiming silently that Azure Dragon Palace was really serious with their art, and obeyed.

"You are truly one with surprises." Luo Ji sat down across from me as the disciple took his leave. "When I saw you didn't have a past cycle of life, I never thought that it was because you are a sword spirit. Quite a shock even for me."

I hadn't expected him to remember me, but I was glad that he did. It seemed easier to talk to someone that knew me. "When did you find out I'm a sword spirit?" I asked.

"Ah, I keep forgetting that disciples from other sects aren't familiar with our art … The visions we create are essentially a reflection of your subconscious thoughts. When we look through them, it gives us a glimpse into what is on your mind, be it spoken or hidden in the back."

I stilled. A glimpse into what was on my mind … Does that mean that he had seen everything I was thinking? Including what was between me and Bai Ye?

Noticing my sudden look of worry, Luo Ji smiled. "No need to worry about your other secrets that I may have seen accidentally. The power of the spell will fade within three hours, and I won't remember any of it by then. Besides, I won't judge anything even if I do remember. Here at Azure Dragon Palace, we see the world from a different perspective. Life is a circle … There isn't always a clear beginning or ending, so who's to say what's right or wrong without knowing the whole story?"

There was no disdain on his face, so I knew he meant what he said. I sat back in relief. "And who can ever say they know the whole story?" I added thoughtfully after contemplating the deep meaning of those words. "Even I don't know my own past, and that's what led me here."

Luo Ji nodded. "In that case, you've found the right person—interestingly enough, I happen to know some of your past. Two hundred and fifty years ago, that man in your vision had come to Azure Dragon Palace for help himself. It was my master who received him."

My jaw dropped. How could the world be so small? "You still remember him after all this time?" I asked in amazement.

"I wouldn't have if not for the rarity of the art he was seeking," Luo Ji said. "I was only a disciple at the time, but my master was so intrigued by the challenge that we spent months searching for an answer together, so I remembered everything as clearly as if it were yesterday." He smiled again. "In the end, the question you come here with is the same as the one we answered back then. It must be fate that I end up receiving you hundreds of years after my master received yours."

I held my breath. Of course, I should've expected that Bai Ye had already asked the same question. He was such a kind person, and he wouldn't have let any chance of helping those victims slip by. "Did he … find a solution?" I asked. If Teng Yuan had said that those souls were lost forever … Did it mean that the method they tried had failed?

Luo Ji gave me a long look. "Oftentimes, there is a solution to everything. The question is how far a person is willing to go and how much they are capable of going. In your case, the gist of the answer is simple: the price of a blood debt is blood itself."

The price of a blood debt is blood itself … I frowned. Did he mean that I, as the one who committed the sin, needed to die to pay for what I had done? But it couldn't be that simple, especially since Bai Ye had already taken care of that years ago …

Seeing my puzzlement, Luo Ji continued, "A demonic sword draws its power from the blood it consumes. That is why it traps the souls of its victims in limbo. To let the sword release its claim on those lives, new blood needs to be fed to it, until there is enough power to quench its thirst and replace its need for the previous souls."

I stared at him. He'd better not be suggesting that more people had to be killed just to bring the old ones back. "Would demon blood work for that purpose?" I ventured. "That is the raw power of demonic swords in the first place, isn't it?"

"It would work to bring the souls back, yes. But that way would only strengthen the demonic power of the sword. As the sword's spirit, you would only come back even stronger, even more bloodthirsty. That wasn't what your master wanted."

No, of course not … A bad omen rose in me. "What is the alternative then?" I asked a bit hesitantly. "What did he have to do instead?"

Luo Ji met my eyes and sighed. "We had hoped to find a better solution for him … but we ran out of time.. The only way we knew that would cleanse the demonic power out of you and keep those dead souls alive at the same time … was the willing sacrifice of heart's blood."