Certainty

Wu Long turned around and looked at Liu Li approaching him.

She raised her brow as there was no surprise on his face as he looked at her and smiled. She noticed him practicing here in the early mornings and was drawn to his sword, it held an inherent charm to her.

"Good sword, where did you learn it?" she asked as she approached.

"Greetings, Elder Liu, I learnt sword from different means, but if you ask where are most of my skills are from, I would say from a friend" he replied after greeting her.

"Friend?" she raised her brow again, "is it a friend across generations, or did you learn from a peer?"

"Haha, a friend across generations would probably be closer to the truth" he replied with a slight chuckle.

'Though she wouldn't like hearing that', he thought to himself with a smile that was almost imperceptibly a little stiff, it for some reason gave off a slight feeling of fear.

"Hmm, what is your name? And why have I never seen you before?" She then asked after nodding. If it was a friend who was older she could understand, if someone as young as this disciple before her could teach someone to this level, they would have to be a monstrous genius in both sword and teaching.

"I am Wu Long, and…" he said but before he could finish he saw a strange expression on her face.

"Wu Long? The one who joined 5-6 months ago, that Wu Long?" She asked with wide eyes.

When he nodded, she looked him up and down.

"But I heard you are only in the 3rd level of Body Transformation Realm?"

"I have recently made good progress in my cultivation"

"Hmm, it seems to me you are overestimating the word good" Liu Li could not help being surprised, but in cultivation everyone had their secrets, and unless you were close it was bad manners to pry too much.

"Anyway, you better be careful, it is dangerous to have valuable secrets, even in this sect" she warned him, as there were always people whose greed led them to throw away morals and shame.

"Thank you for the concern, it's under control." Wu Long smiled gently at her. "Anyway, would you like to spar? You might get some new inspirations"

"Spar?" She looked a bit surprised and then softly laughed "I may have complimented your sword, but don't you think you are being too cheeky?"

"Not at all, we will not use our cultivation of course, pure swordplay. I guarantee that it will be beneficial to you." He said not fazed by her laughter.

"Hoh? Even guarantee? I like the confidence, but what if you fail to satisfy me?" She said.

"Fail to satisfy?" A slightly playful smile appeared on Wu Long's face "that have not happened to me for so long, I don't even remember if it ever did."

Liu Li vaguely sensed that his smile held something fatal, and that both it and his words held more meaning, but she did not dwell on it as the movement of his sword when he adjusted his stance instantly forced out any other things from her attention.

They started lightly sparring using pure swordplay without their cultivation bases and she quickly found that it indeed provided her with insights.

Sparring with him also brought her a mysterious feeling of deja vu. It also relaxed her thoughts and cleared her mind.

Some time later…

"What's wrong?" She asked when he suddenly stopped.

"It's been two hours, it is about time for my workout to end" he replied nonchalantly as he sheathed his sword.

"What? So quickly?"

Time went so fast for her that she didn't notice that the sun was not on the horizon but already up in the sky.

"Thank you for the spar Elder Liu" he said with a warm smile.

"... yes, thank you too, Disciple Wu. You did not lie, you really did not disappoint, no, it was even better than just not disappointing" Liu Li said with a regretful sigh, saddened to have it end so quickly. As she was talking she sheathed her sword and her gaze shifted down to the ground, so she could not see the mischievous glint in his eyes.

After a moment of appreciating her beautiful melancholy, Wu Long opened his mouth.

"I will be training here tomorrow and every day after, so if you want-…"

"Yes!"

"..."

Before Wu Long could finish Liu Li's eyes jumped back to his face with joy in them as she shouted loudly, which seemingly slightly startled Wu Long.

After a moment, Liu Li realized her actions and she turned bright red, lowering her eyes again.

"I mean… you said… that if I wanted, you mean to spar again right?" she said bashfully.

"Yes, I meant exactly that, Elder Liu, I assume you agree, right?" he said with a gentle smile and expression, seemingly not having noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Liu Li only nodded, as she was desperately fighting the instinct to run away. This whole experience was completely new to the usually composed and aloof her.

"I understand, then see you tomorrow, have a good day" Wu Long continued to 'not notice' and went in the direction of the Library Hall.

Liu Li also 'calmly walked' in another direction, walking at a quicker and quicker pace as she got further from him, eventually basically running to her own living quarters. After she returned home she slammed the wooden sliding door shut and squatted on the spot, hugging her head with a face as red as a tomato, a strange half-crying sound coming from her figure.

At the same time when Wu Long was far enough away, he suddenly delightfully laughed.

"Hehe…, cute" he said to himself as he walked in a great mood.

When he was in the library he sat down but did not immediately open the book he chose for today.

'Hmm, her name and appearance does not match, and she did not recognize me or my sword. But her gaze, her mannerisms and most apparently the feeling her sword gives off…' he pondered as he recalled his interaction with Liu Li.

'I can be certain that at least it is not similar to my case, but I still need to see more of her sword to know of the other possibility' he thought to himself.

When he was training earlier or sparring with Liu Li, he of course did not show all of his sword mastery, but only the slightest tip of the iceberg. Enough to catch her attention first, and enough to stimulate her potential during the spar. He did not guide her in the sword though, as he wanted to purely stimulate her potential and naturally bring out her sword, not influenced by his own. Though that slight stimulation of potential was vastly beneficial to her and allowed her to naturally evolve her sword.

He then proceeded to open the book and start reading.

—

Over the course of the next two weeks he sparred with Liu Li every morning. She seemed to be feeling awkward in the beginning on the second day, but he pretended not to notice and started the spar quickly which erased any of the awkwardness away as she concentrated on the sword.

Starting the second week they began exchanging small talk for a minute or two before starting, and slightly more after.

She soon knew he avoided answering anything concerning the friend who taught him the sword, or rather answered, but very vaguely. So she stopped asking questions on this topic. But it was still an enjoyable conversation experience.

During this time Wu Long was observing her carefully, but he soon noticed that while he may still care if his doubts were right, this would no longer have any effect on what relationship he intended to pursue with her. He was naturally attracted to her the first time he saw her, but the more he knew her and interacted with her, the more he became enchanted with her.

He also learnt a lot about this world that he was in in the meantime.

It was already a month since he returned from his little adventure and started his research in the library , as well as a little over a month since he 'woke up'.

He was now certain that it was not a region of the Seven Boundless Worlds but a secluded world of its own.

Any history book or scroll only contained records of a measly 10 thousand years ago, which was basically a blink in the world he lived before. Every book that concerned that period was basically guesses and estimations. Only the words 'great calamity' were uniform in these books, indicating a major event that wiped most of the civilization in this world, or at least disrupted it to a certain degree of severity.

He did not recognize any of the powers of the influences that were dominant here. He also did not find any mentions of the powers, influences, places or names he was familiar with.

It was also too small. The geographical knowledge only stretched to three continents, and the islands and archipelagos surrounding them, but did not mention Seven Boundless Worlds, lesser worlds, minor worlds or any travel between worlds.

At the same time, he was certain that it was not some completely different world without any connection to the Seven Boundless Worlds. The cultivation realms, their names and characteristics matched the Seven Boundless Worlds. The names, types and classifications of treasures, medicines, demonic beasts and more that he found were the same he knew. The language, as well as terms, many customs and taboos of the cultivation world were present here. There were a few other less apparent and harder to notice indicators as well, which he found after combing through books as if they were his one and only obsession.

He read nearly all of the history, geography and general knowledge sections of this Library Hall in this short amount as he needed to be sure.

He could now have a certain degree of certainty that it was indeed a fractured world. That made him both excited and troubled.

He was excited because he was still in the universe of the Seven Boundless Worlds, and not some other unknown world. He was also in a familiar environment, which meant there would be less hurdles on his way. There was also the matter of his enemies, as he could not let them know of his vulnerable state, so the fact that he was isolated meant he would have some buffer time to reach at least some level which would, after exiting the isolated world, let him move more freely and at the same time secretively.

He was troubled because fractured worlds were not the same as sealed worlds or secluded worlds, which could be breached with sufficient power, knowledge and technique. Fractured worlds only restored their connection to the Seven Boundless Worlds when they were restored to a certain degree. Which meant exiting this isolated world and returning to his loved ones would be a challenging endeavor.

But having some semblance of an understanding of his situation was an important step in the direction of his return, and at the same time, it gave him a much more stable state of mind.