During last night's conversation, Ye Chen learned a great deal about this Sister Yu through Jiang Yao.
Unlike Jiang Yao, who primarily cultivated True Qi Skills, Sister Yu immersed her entire being into the practice of swordsmanship. It was said that she not only inherited many of Fairy Jia Luo's swordsmanship achievements, but also had her fortunate encounters and gains, having come a long way in the path of the sword.
When Ye Chen heard that Sister Yu had mastered at least fifty kinds of Sword Intents, he was utterly shocked.
After all, having cultivated only the Wind Sword Intent, Storm Rain Sword Intent, Sword Intent of Thunder, and Purple Lightning Sword Intent, he had created an incredibly powerful Slaughter Sword Intent.
With Sister Yu having cultivated no less than fifty kinds of Sword Intents, what kind of achievements would she have accomplished!
Ye Chen couldn't help but long to meet Sister Yu.
Snowdrift Peak was immense, and as Ye Chen and Jiang Yao made their way through small paths around the mountainside, turning around several cliff faces, and walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they saw at a distance a small stream by a gracefully simple courtyard.
"The residence ahead is where Sister Yu lives."
On seeing the courtyard ahead, Jiang Yao grew excited, grabbing Ye Chen's hand and quickly heading towards the yard.
"Sister Yu has always lived in seclusion, deeply engrossed in understanding swordsmanship and seldom appears in public."
"It is said that apart from our master, no one else has had the opportunity to enter her courtyard; although I have seen Sister Yu a few times, I have never been able to enter her dwelling."
"Ye Chen, today we'll be able to see what Sister Yu's courtyard is really like."
Holding Jiang Yao's soft hand, Ye Chen looked curiously at the courtyard ahead.
The courtyard gate was closed tightly, and as they approached the entrance, the gate creaked open automatically before they could even knock.
"Eh, could Sister Yu know we're coming?"
"Let's go, Ye Chen, let's go in!"
Jiang Yao stepped forward with Ye Chen, crossing into the courtyard.
As soon as Ye Chen stepped into the courtyard, he felt the air filled with an indescribable sword energy gleaming. These flickers of sword energy even caused the Crimson Fire Flying Sword in his Sword Palace Acupoint to vibrate on its own.
What an odd sensation!
Ye Chen peered into the courtyard again, and was taken aback.
He saw dense fog completely obscuring the layout of the courtyard, leaving nothing clear in sight, with only a winding path appearing beneath his feet.
This was a gravel path, but on this path, Ye Chen saw multiple Sword Marks.
The moment Ye Chen's eyes touched these Sword Marks, he felt as if the world was spinning, and the hand that he had been holding — Jiang Yao's hand — suddenly became empty; Jiang Yao had vanished!
Ye Chen's expression changed.
He cast his Divine Sense out in all directions. His Divine Sense, which could envelop a thousand feet in radius, could only perceive an all-encompassing mist, with nothing but the path beneath his feet identifiable.
Ye Chen could only continue along the path ahead.
The more Ye Chen walked, the more alarmed he became. The path seemed never-ending, and judging by the distance he had covered, he should have left the confines of the small courtyard by now, yet he was still on the gravel path.
"How can Sister Yu's courtyard be so strange?"
Ye Chen halted, his brows furrowing.
He looked around, but only saw more dense fog and the same continuous path beneath his feet.
When Ye Chen's gaze fell on the Sword Marks on the path again, a flash of insight sparked in his eyes.
"This must be an extremely formidable swordsmanship Illusion Array!"
"As soon as I entered Sister Yu's courtyard, I was caught in this swordsmanship Illusion Array, and Jiang Yao disappeared too. Could this be Sister Yu's test for me? Without passing this Illusion Array, there's no chance of meeting her?"
Ye Chen pondered to himself.
At this moment, Ye Chen was trapped in what seemed like an endless path.
From the void above, one could see that Ye Chen was merely walking within a few hundred feet square area, and by now, Jiang Yao had already reached beyond this small area.
Standing next to Jiang Yao were two women: one was a fifteen-year-old girl dressed in simple green clothes with delicate features. If Ye Chen saw her, he would be greatly surprised. This girl was none other than Yu Luoxuan, who had participated in the selection of true disciples with him and ultimately took second place, joining Snowdrift Peak.
The other woman, who looked somewhat similar to Yu Luoxuan but appeared to be around twenty years old, was dressed in an elegant white dress. With her quiet and peaceful beautiful eyes, it seemed as if nothing in the world could stir the slightest ripple in her heart.
At this moment, as Jiang Yao looked at this woman, she called out, "Sister Yu, what's happening? Why is Ye Chen just walking around in that small area?"
From Jiang Yao's address, it was clear that this woman was the Sister Yu that Ye Chen and Jiang Yao were seeking, the owner of the courtyard!
Then, Sister Yu smiled as she regarded Jiang Yao, "Sister Yao'er, I've heard from my sister that this Ye Chen, who came with you, is quite remarkable."
"You want to learn swordsmanship from me, that's of course possible. If he wants to learn my swordsmanship, well, he'll need to pass a small test first."
"I also want to see just how impressive Ye Chen really is."
As she spoke, Sister Yu's beautiful eyes gleamed with a smile as she observed Ye Chen, who was moving about: "Let's see how long it takes him to uncover the secret of my 'Minor Thousand Sword Formation'. If he can't grasp it within half an hour, that would be quite disappointing."
"My sister?" Jiang Yao glanced at Sister Yu, then at Yu Luoxuan beside her.
She suddenly remembered that Sister Yu's full name was Yu Luolian, Yu Luoxuan, Yu Luolian—it turned out that Yu Luoxuan was Sister Yu's younger sister.
Jiang Yao had no idea that Sister Yu had a sister!
And now that Sister Yu mentioned that Ye Chen was undergoing a test, Jiang Yao couldn't be bothered to ask about the sisters' affairs; her beautiful eyes turned to Ye Chen, who was entering an unknown formation for testing.
"Formation testing? The secret of the Minor Thousand Sword Formation?"
"Ye Chen will definitely pass this formation test!"
Jiang Yao had an inexplicable confidence in Ye Chen.
At that moment, within the illusion array, the eyes of Ye Chen, who was examining the sword marks on the path, began to shine brighter and brighter.
"Sword marks; the secret of this illusion array lies in these sword marks!"
"These sword marks seem chaotic, yet they seem to follow some mysterious order!"
"To get out of this illusion array, it seems necessary to study these sword marks!"
Ye Chen calmed his spirit, showing no hurry to leave. His entire focus immersed himself within these sword marks; his vast divine sense began to survey and ponder each and every sword mark within its reach.
After about a dozen or so breaths had passed since he began his scrutiny and deliberation, Ye Chen suddenly closed his eyes.
A moment later, when Ye Chen opened his eyes again, his gaze fixed onto three strange sword marks on the path.
The moment his gaze landed on these three sword marks, the dense fog that filled the exterior of the narrow path surged wildly. Within the stirring fog, Ye Chen thought he saw a woman in white practicing a set of peculiar swordsmanship.
This swordsmanship was filled with endless charm and profound artistic conception, a style of Sword Intents that Ye Chen had never encountered before!
When Ye Chen watched the woman execute the third move of the sword technique, his gaze immediately switched to the four sword marks on the path.
He suddenly realized that the sword technique seemed to imply another more powerful sword technique, which was related to another set of four sword marks.
Just as Ye Chen was focusing on the new set of four sword marks, the dense fog changed again, and the woman in white began to practice a new set of sword techniques.
Ye Chen continued to watch this new sword technique.
Outside the illusion array.
Seeing Ye Chen's sharp gaze, feeling the fluctuations of sword energy in the void, the always graceful and composed Sister Yu's eyes suddenly widened in astonishment, "Truly powerful!"
"He's actually able to find the secret of my sword formation so quickly!"
"If he can discern the fifth variation of the sword formation, then he can leave the formation. Could Ye Chen really be such a genius?"
The change in Sister Yu's expression caught the attention of Yu Luoxuan, who was nearby.
Yu Luoxuan, like Jiang Yao, turned her attention to Ye Chen.
"It seems Ye Chen has even surprised Sister," muttered Yu Luoxuan to herself.
Meanwhile, within the illusion array, the sword marks Ye Chen focused on increased in number.
From three to four, and then to five!
In the end, it even reached eight, nine marks, and the dense fog around him was retreating rapidly, with all illusions seemingly fading away.
But at this moment, Ye Chen closed his eyes again.
As the illusions dissipated, he could see more and more sword marks; he could feel the increasingly wondrous changes of the sword marks.
In the end, in his mind, he even visualized the woman in white practicing the changes of dozens, even hundreds of sword marks.
After the countless variations of the sword technique dissipated, Ye Chen suddenly opened his eyes.
In that instant, it seemed he had understood many Rules of Sword Intents.
At the same time, he also saw that after the illusion array dissipated, three girls appeared in front of him.
Besides Jiang Yao, he also saw Yu Luoxuan, and when he recognized the white-clad woman beside Jiang Yao and Yu Luoxuan, a shock went through his eyes.
This white-clad woman was none other than the one who had been practicing the sword technique in the dense fog illusion array!
This, was this Sister Yu?!