Lin Yi found his gaze fixed on her, the silence now stretched thin, yet filled with the unspoken weight of all that had just been revealed. So many grand pronouncements, so many heavy truths had fallen between them, changing the landscape of his understanding entirely.

And amidst it all, a single, surprisingly fundamental question had somehow been overlooked, now rising to the forefront of his mind with a quiet insistence. His voice, when he finally spoke, was steady, betraying none of the swirling thoughts beneath its surface, though a certain profound curiosity underscored his tone.

"For all of this... for everything you have told me," he began, a small pause letting the words hang in the air, "I still don’t know your name."

The girl met his eyes, a flicker of something unreadable passing through her own before settling back into a calm, almost ancient stillness. She held his unwavering gaze for a long moment, a beat that felt both brief and expansive, as if time itself had hesitated.

Then, with a subtle shift of her posture, she provided the answer he sought.

"Xu Ling."

The name itself was deceptively simple, uttered softly, almost like a whisper carried on a distant breeze. Yet, it carried an undeniable, faint quality that suggested a deep, enduring history, as if the very sound had existed far longer than the delicate form that had just given it voice. Lin Yi repeated it silently in his mind, testing the syllables, letting them settle:

Xu Ling.

He gave a slight, almost unconscious nod, a gesture of quiet acceptance, and without breaking the flow of their conversation, pressed onward.

"You mentioned that the previous Celestial Emperor, the one who walked a path against the current of the heavens, specifically chose me," Lin Yi continued, his voice now laced with a sharper edge of inquiry. He had observed her carefully throughout their exchange, noting the depth of her knowledge, the casual way she spoke of events and powers that defied mortal comprehension. "And it’s clear, from everything you’ve shared, that you possess a much deeper understanding of him, of his intentions and his struggle, than anyone else I’ve encountered thus far."

"Given all this," he probed, his voice firm, "what exactly is your relationship with Xuan Huang Celestial Sovereign?"

Xu Ling did not offer an immediate response. Instead, she performed a deliberate, slow step forward, a movement that was both graceful and purposeful. Her pristine white robe, a simple garment yet somehow imbued with an aura of ancient purity, shifted lightly with the motion, the fabric whispering against itself.

The air around her seemed to settle, to hold its breath in anticipation of her words. When she finally spoke, her tone remained remarkably calm, almost serenely detached, yet with an underlying current of profound truth.

"I am his sword." The statement was delivered plainly, without embellishment, but its directness carried a shocking weight.

Lin Yi’s expression, remarkably, remained unchanged, a testament to his practiced composure in the face of the extraordinary. However, a distinct shift occurred in his focus; his attention sharpened perceptibly, every fiber of his being now entirely concentrated on her. He processed the initial declaration, the sheer, unexpected nature of it.

Seeing his silent absorption, she offered a clarification, her voice softening just a touch, as if to make the impossible slightly more tangible.

"His sword spirit." A profound silence descended upon them then, heavy and complete, as the full implication of her words began to unfold in Lin Yi’s mind. For a brief, suspended moment, he uttered nothing, simply allowing the revelation to sink in, to reshape his understanding of the world once more.

Then, a thoughtful flicker passed through his gaze, a spark of connection between her words and his own recent experiences. "The weapon I’ve been using..." he began slowly, the words trailing off as he mentally pieced together the fragments.

Xu Ling anticipated his unfinished thought, her head inclining in a slight nod before he could even complete the sentence.

"A fragment," she confirmed, the single word resonating with absolute certainty. Her eyes, those ancient, knowing eyes, moved briefly and pointedly towards his waist, drawing his attention to where the Abyssal Celestial Lord Blade rested.

"What you wield now," she continued, her voice maintaining its even cadence, "is not the true Celestial Blade, not in its complete and unbound form." There was a subtle, almost imperceptible pause, allowing the distinction to settle between them. "It is merely a shard," she elaborated, painting a clearer picture of its essence. "A remnant. A broken piece, yes, but one that still holds the deep, ingrained memory of what it once was, a shadow of its former glory."

Lin Yi’s grip, without any conscious command from him, tightened almost imperceptibly on the hilt of his own weapon, the hard, cool material a stark contrast to the sudden, burning knowledge of its true nature.

A fragment. A shard. The words resonated with a quiet intensity. Xu Ling’s voice, meanwhile, remained perfectly even, devoid of any drama or heightened emotion, simply relaying facts of immense consequence.

"The true blade..." she continued, her gaze now fixed back on his, as if peering into the depths of his understanding, "is something else entirely, an entity of power beyond what you currently comprehend."

A faint, almost imperceptible shift seemed to pass through the very air around them, a subtle ripple of energy or perhaps simply the profound weight of her statement.

"A single spark may be enough to light a great fire," she offered, drawing on a potent analogy, "but it is not, and never will be, the sun itself."

Her gaze then returned to him, "What you hold in your hand right now, that formidable piece of shattered power, is indeed capable of cutting through mountains, of altering landscapes with its might," she affirmed. "But the real blade... the true, complete Celestial Blade... that can cut fate itself."

The sheer magnitude of those words, "cut fate," settled heavily in the space between them, a profound weight that seemed to press down on the very air. Lin Yi exhaled quietly, a slow, deliberate release of breath that carried with it a mix of awe and a dawning sense of impossible responsibility. He processed the implications, the vast gulf between what he had and what awaited.

Then, gathering his thoughts, he ventured another question, already anticipating the grand scale of her answer. "And when I finally receive his treasures," he began, the question implying a cascade of future events. Xu Ling did not wait for him to finish, her understanding so complete, her certainty so absolute, that she smoothly completed his thought, leaving no room for doubt or misinterpretation. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"You will receive everything," she stated, her voice as clear and unyielding. There was no hesitation in her tone, no trace of ambiguity whatsoever. She then enumerated the components of this unimaginable inheritance, each word a revelation. "The blade itself, in its true, complete form. The full extent of his inheritance, all the wisdom and power he accrued. And even the scattered fragments that were dispersed across the realms when the Celestial Domain itself tragically fell."