Ye Yuyan left after a few rounds of drink with Maven and Su Yan. He said his goodbyes at the bar and went outside. He stepped outside and left a chilly wind pass his body. The streets were quiet and deserted with the only lights coming from the flickering of flames in houses.

He started walking along the streets and looking up at the skies distracted. He could see the stars gleaming and the moon shining and if he focused his attention he could see various sword forces wandering around.

While he was discussing the sword with Maven his insights unwittingly got deeper. Which propelled him deeper into mastery of the Sword Dao.

He'd remembered a lesson he had as a child back home. He was taught that the world was one but one day split into two. The two were refined by the four transformations of heaven and earth into the five key elements.

Fire, Water, Metal, Wood, and Earth, were products of the transformation by Rain, Wind, Lightning, and Thunder. No one truly knew what they originated from but this was the common notion of origin.

But it left strange things like the sword, frost, poison, and other strange schools out. One could only wonder how such schools existed. But one common link has been, if the school has a strong relationship with the Dao is originated from then it will be stronger.

"The sword is truly the greatest vessel of a Dao." Ye Yuyan mumbled to himself as his sword truths continually increased. It was already on the precipice of reaching 50% in his sword force.

Cultivation is split into comprehension, consolidation, and engulfing stages. The first step is always understanding which makes the vessel larger. Consolidation is stabilizing of the vessel making it firm and engulfing is filling the vessel up.

Ye Yuyan's understanding was improving rapidly and his consolidation unnecessary with his powerful vessel that just leaves engulfing. Ye Yuyan focused his attention back in front of him and noticed Nesilia slowly walking out of the palace.

"Ji Shu." She said with a demure smile and a gaze that could stop one's heart.

"Nesilia, I have your book for you." Ye Yuyan said with a kindly smile, as he reached into his robe and tossed her manual.

Nesilia looked at the manual for a moment and filled through before looking up at Ye Yuyan.

"Thank you, I gained a lot from your writings." She then passed over a furled white scroll which Ye Yuyan put away.

"Where are you heading this late at night." Ye Yuyan asked curiously.

"I'm just patrolling the edge of the village, Han Yi recommended it." Nesilia said shaking her head.

"I'll have to head out now, goodnight." She lightly giggled as she walked off to the edge of the village.

"I see..." Ye Yuyan laughed to himself as his eyes turned into blood red saucers.

"How long a night." He said with a dreadful coldness coming from deep in his marrow.

*********************

On the next morning, the sun rose from the east and Han Yi walked out of the cottage greeting the new day. He raised his right arm, as a bird fluttered onto his palm. It had only one demonic eye and black feathers. It cawed once before transforming into a half pint letter in Han Yi's palm.

Han Yi opened the letter and read through it rather quickly. Then a spark ignited in his palm and burned the paper into shreds which he scattered. Ye Yuyan walked out of the cottage to see Han Yi staring off at the sun with a focused expression.

"Has he succeeded?" Ye Yuyan asked coldly, Han Yi's eyes flittered past Ye Yuyan before looking back at the horizon.

"He has...go get the old man out of that tavern. I'll get Nesilia and we will head out." Han Yi said and turned to enter the cottage.

Ye Yuyan went into the street and humming a tune on his walk. Some children ran past him with parents yelling at them to stop from their stores. Ye Yuyan laughed at the sight and continued walking until he got to the bar.

He entered and saw Maven asleep at the bar with various bottles scattered near him. Su Yan was still up as he was grabbing and cleaning the cups.

"Brother Ye! Good morning." Su Yan chuckled as he stopped his cleaning.

"Good morning to you too, Brother Yan. How did Brother Lin sleep?" Ye Yuyan asked kindly.

"Hopefully well, since he got so much of it." Su Yan wryly joked as he shook Maven.

"Wake up Brother Lin, Brother Ye is here for you." Su Yan said with a bit of annoyance as Maven refused to wake up.

"Huh, Ji Shu?" Maven grunted as he got up from the bar.

"Is it time to leave?" He said as he wiped his eyes and face to see better.

"Yeah, wash up and get over to the gate quickly." Ye Yuyan laughed as he left the bar and went outside.

"Goodbye Brother Yan, may we meet again." Ye Yuyan smiled as he left and waved with turning his back.

"Till we meet again." Su Yan laughed as he gave Maven a bowl filled with water.

As Ye Yuyan walked around on the streets, people would gaze at him. Everyone of his motions were ethereal and elegant. He was soon in front of the gate where Han Yi, Nesilia, and a gatekeeper stood.

"Good tidings to you and your companions, your highness." The old man said kindly

"Also thank you to you for talking with my son." Elder Yan said to Ye Yuyan thankfully.

"It was no problem, your son is quite the prodigy." Ye Yuyan chuckled warmly and responded.

"Either way thank you." Elder Yan said one more with sincerity.

"Thank you for your hospitality but we must continue our journey." Han Yi said in a flat tone, Elder Yan saluted the prince before pushing open the gates. As they spoke Maven walked in and joined the group and standing behind Ye Yuyan.

They walked out of the gate surrounded by various trees in a dense forest. The trees slowly curved up as the mountains started, as they walked away from the gate there was a dragging noise. Looking back they could see the gates slowly close.

*********************

The group journeyed through the mountain for days before they encountered any life. But it was mostly mountain beasts like wolves and snakes. None of which were a match for the group, the whole time Han Yi stood at the front guiding them.

Ye Yuyan spent most of the time gazing around and occasionally he would talk to Maven about the sword, amazing him with increasingly high understanding.

"Are you aiming to be a sword cultivator?" Maven asked slightly puzzled.

"No, not at all. I don't have the talent to be a dual cultivator. At best I can only get some accomplishment in the frost dao. I only use the sword to clear my mind." Ye Yuyan said as he shook his head.

"That makes a lot of sense." Maven said with realization. They continued to talk as they scaled the mountain for a less than a day. Occasionally Han Yi would furrow his brows with frustration and change directions. Other times he would stand still and wait for a while before moving.

"We're here!" Han Yi said as he suddenly stopped they had scaled the mountain for a few miles before they decided to stop.

There was already some frost on the ground by this point and the wind blew intensely. In front of them was a tree almost completely encased in ice. Han Yi stared at the tree for a moment before speaking.

"Nesilia and Ji Shu, divine it." Han Yi coldly commanded, Nesilia and Ye Yuyan walked up to the tree and each took a side.

Nesilia removed her grimoire as she summoned a black chalice that radiated a white mist. Ye Yuyan raised his palm and placed it on the ice block. The chilly energies entered into his hand making him shiver a little bit.

The white mists surrounded the tree as it attempted to seep into the ice block. Ye Yuyan unraveled the frost laws and holes started to appear on the ice it was melting.

The white mist entered through the holes and made the laws dissipate at a faster rate. Ye Yuyan took his hands off the ice block and looked at Han Yi with a knowing smile.

"You needed Gulan for this too?" He smugly joked, Han Yi didn't bother to dignify that with a response. But just his expression was enough to tell it was true.

Gulan was a pawn for Han Yi to learn the truths that Illathar had mastered so that they could open the seal to the immortal graveyard. But Ye Yuyan came along and killed Gulan stealing the truth for himself.

As the ice block completely melted away, the tree started to pulse with vitality. The pulse grew faster and faster as green energies intertwined together and suddenly the tree blew up into smithereens.

The frost all around them completely dissipated leaving only a verdant mountain. Taking the place of the tree was a black swirling vortex. Leaking from the vortex were dark and heavy energies that swirled around the portal.

"Shall we?" Han Yi with a devious and cocky smile.