276: Change (Bai Ye's Memory)

Change (Bai Ye's Memory)

Things were changing, Bai Ye finally realized it then. From her overly busy schedule and growing obsession with Twin Stars, to her dwindling love for small lives and loss of interest in flowers. She was changing … and it simply took him too long to connect the dots.2

He was suddenly afraid. Afraid of the reason why all of this was happening, and afraid of what this meant to the girl he once knew. He locked himself in the library for the rest of that day, searching frantically for an explanation. But deep inside, he already knew the answer.

Demonic swords were known to affect the people they bonded with. Tragedies of those cultivators losing their humanity and sanity had been recorded throughout history, and that was precisely why he carefully steered clear of that path himself during the many decades he owned Twin Stars. But he thought it'd be different for her … She was the sword spirit, a counterpart to the blades themselves. How could the demonic influence extend even to her?

His hands trembled as he flipped through book after book, hoping to find something that told him his suspicions were wrong. Yet the more he read, the more it convinced him of his intuition. Her addiction to power and penchant for blood were classic signs of a mind affected by dark power. There was no mistake about it.

Bai Ye slumped against the wall. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do. There was no way to sever a bond with a demonic sword. The connection lasted for life, and its effect would only accumulate over time. He couldn't bring himself to imagine what that meant for the sword spirit after another hundred years. He couldn't let that happen … There had to be a solution somewhere, and he had to find it.

As for now, he'd have to make her stop further strengthening that bond with Twin Stars. Maybe, just maybe, that would be enough to at least stop the situation from getting worse.

Bai Ye told himself to calm down and carefully think through it all. For the next few days, he considered how to break the news to her. He knew the girl with the kind heart was still there somewhere, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her too harshly the gloomy future Twin Stars had in store for her. But at the same time, he wasn't sure if she would even believe his theory, given how important those swords had become to her and how carried away she was by that bond. He was still deep in dilemma when one afternoon, he saw her hurrying into his room with concern written all over her face.

"Bai Ye!" she exclaimed before her feet made it fully across the threshold. "Where is the ointment we made last time for sword cuts?"

He snapped out of his troubled thoughts then. "Sword cuts?" He stood up hastily. "What happened?"

"I accidentally injured one of the Gatekeeper's disciples when we were sparring … Please, help me find it quickly. The cut was deeper than I thought, and the regular herbs aren't working."

Bai Ye felt a chill climbing up his spine. Had the effect of Twin Stars reached so far already? The sword spirit was way above any Mount Hua disciple in terms of power, and she had seldomly sparred with anyone else in the past hundred years. In the rare cases when she did, she had always been careful not to use her full potential and hurt her opponents. Was it the demonic influence that made her lose control this time without knowing?

"Bai Ye?" she asked again, fumbling through the storage shelves in the meantime. "Do you remember where we stored it?"

"I-It might be in the kitchen." Saving all other thoughts for later, Bai Ye got to work and quickly made a trip to the kitchen, returning with the small jar in no time. "I'll come help you," he offered.

She nodded, and they made their way to Chu Yang's hall together. Bai Ye helped her ready the ointment, and when he saw the injured disciple, his heart sank.

His suspicion was proven right once more. This was no accidental injury. The cut was deep like what she told him, and knowing her skills and her agility, Bai Ye was certain she could have stopped the blade from going so far if she wanted to. But she wasn't holding it back. Intentionally or not, she was aiming the sword straight at her opponent. She was going for blood.

He darted a surreptitious glance at the girl carefully applying the ointment to the injured. She looked so focused, so worried. And from her constant apologies and words of regret, he knew she didn't mean for this to happen. But she hadn't realized that Twin Stars had made this unavoidable. She hadn't realized that her subconscious had already given in to the bloodthirst in those swords.

His heart ached. He remembered how kind and caring this girl was when they first met, how gentle she was with every life that crossed paths with hers. It was never in her nature to hurt anyone, and he wondered how much it would pain her if she knew the changes Twin Stars had forced on her.

This was all his fault … If he hadn't told her to bond with Twin Stars way back in the days, none of this would've happened.

Their ointment did turn out to work better than what Chu Yang had in his hall, and the disciple's wound stopped bleeding soon afterward. Chu Yang stopped by at some point during the process, giving the sword spirit a harsh look before he left, and Bai Ye stayed quiet almost the entire time. It wasn't until he and the sword spirit returned to their hall that he broke the difficult silence, knowing that the conversation couldn't wait any longer.

"I … have something to tell you," he said at last.

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