Solerealm and Yin.

Hongzai's description of the yellow law was beyond anything Yin Long had expected, grander than any guesses he had come up with in the past. He had been able to tell early on that it wasn't an elemental law, it didn't really produce any changes when projected into the outside world. But the prime evil? The grand law of Yin that contained all the world's evil? Never had he guessed that it would be something on that level. Granted, he hadn't really read anything about the law of Yin before so it would have been stranger if he actually counted it as a possibility.

"The law of Yin? Are you sure that you're not mistaking it for something else?"

Yin Long wasn't the only one dumbfounded by the revelation, Xiao Yin Yu also found it hard to believe, but that was because she knew more than Yin Long. The law of Yin was a zenith law, it stood on equal ground with the grand and ephemeral laws of space, time, and destruction. Yin Long already had the law of space, something a good portion of cultivators would do anything to acquire, it alone marked him as a target of envy. But now the law of Yin was also supposed to be added onto that? Hongzai steadied her mind thanks to Yin Yu's question, not offended by the implication that she may just be seeing things.

"Boy, before I'm willing to say anything else, I need you to swear an oath. What's your relation with the Floodlight line?"

Hongzai didn't respond to Yin Yu's question and instead focused her full attention on Yin Long, her sharply narrowed gaze pricking his skin. He could feel it, the wrong answer here would result in him losing his head, his blood would stain the ground before he could even finish the answer. But he wasn't afraid. The pain and hatred contained in her sword, the name she had given herself, and now this question, he was already starting to piece together a few things.

"I swear an oath that everything I'm about to say is the truth. I, Yin Long, have no relation with the bloodline or social circle of Dominion Deity Floodlight, I am completely separate from them."

Hongzai, Flood's End, a name and likely an ambition, one that definitely hadn't been taken lightly. Just as Yin Long proclaimed, there wasn't a single lie in what he said. Dominion Deity Floodlight, this entire Dominion had gained its name from him, he ruled countless planets, a sixth of this grand universe resting comfortably in the palm of his hand. There was no way Yin Long would have any relation with a being like that, but it seemed like Hongzai had some unsavoury ties with them.

"Good...That's good. Come, we'll talk more inside."

She didn't let out a sigh of relief, but Yin Long could see that Hongzai visibly relaxed a little after he swore the oath. Yin Long turned his head sideways and locked eyes with Yin Yu, who simply nodded her head in understanding and followed him as he headed into the cave with Hongzai. She brought him into the cavern that she called her home and sat down a bit away from the stone bed. Surprisingly enough, rather than moving on to the main subject, she gestured towards the sword he was holding.

"Your sword, how did you make it? I can sense the law of wind, space, and sword in it, but you don't carry the scent of wind so I don't think you have the law of wind. The fact that it didn't collapse as the Law of Yin started to course through you also shows that it's far sturdier than most normal swords, it's not something that should be that easy to make."

Yin Long hadn't hidden his skill, creating this sword in front of Hongzai's eyes. Plenty of people had seen him do this so he didn't consider it something to hide, but it seemed like actually understanding how it was done wasn't something that could be done from just seeing it once. Yin Long was eager to learn as much as he could so he dispelled the sword and held his palm over the ground, slowly forming a new sword as he explained.

"It's my soul. I can detach small pieces and send them out to take over the surrounding elements and laws, my soul creates the shell and the target becomes the filling and blade. I can then store the blades inside my soulsea and nourish them, but if they break then the parts of my soul keeping them together also scatters for good so I need to be careful."

A sword that contained a mixture of earth and stone formed in Yin Long's grasp as he spoke, Hongzai and Xiao Yin Yu's eyes glued to the weapon. This was the first time Yin Long properly told someone else about his skill, if he didn't count Bai Xiang then it was only Lan Yun and Jin Wang who knew the truth about this ability. But now two others had been added to that list, and their eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions.

Most of the emotions in Yin Yu's eyes belonged to either the sorrow or warmth categories, because she now realized the truth. When they had fled from Tao Tiankong, Yin Long had thrown out and detonated sword after sword, growing paler with each one. And now she understood exactly what those swords represented, each one was a part of his soul, each sacrifice brought with it the risk of his soul falling apart. And he had thrown them all out for her, she had been so feeble that he had to sacrifice them all for her.

As for the emotions in Hongzai's eyes, they belonged to either the amazement or pondering categories. She was stronger and older than both Yin Long and Yin Yu, more so than either of them actually realized, so she had a veritable wealth of experience. She felt like she had already touched upon the truth, but there was still a part hidden deep within her that wanted more proof, greater clarity before it could hope to believe.

"Here. Try this."

A dark blue stream of energy poured out from Hongzai's finger as she spoke, heading towards Yin Long. The energy looked like water, Yin Long could even see tiny droplets fall down as it moved. But just looking at it made his throat clench and dry up, more than it already had. Thirst, this water-like energy filled him with nothing but an unearthly thirst, it was the emotion he had felt most clearly in the sword scars Hongzai had left behind.

He could guess what she wanted, the newly formed earth and stone sword in his hand dissipating as he stretched out his arm. His soul seeped out and surrounded the energy, Hongzai had relinquished her control over it so his soul immediately snatched up the energy and used it to form a new sword.

A sword so dark blue that it resembled the deep ocean formed in his grasp, a painful sensation of dry thirst radiating from every inch of the blade. Hongzai's pupils trembled slightly as she looked at that blade, which copied even her own emotions. The truth was now perfectly apparent, there probably wouldn't be a single soul that could deny it.

"You...So you're born for the blade, cursed by its love. There probably isn't a single person more suited to being a Woehowl Swordsman than you... No, looking at that earlier sword, Esi, you can probably also become a Solerealm Swordsman, one that has escaped the chains of normal swordsmen even."

There was no other way to describe it, the child in front of her was born for the blade, his very soul and existence was a blessing bestowed upon all swords, and a curse to all swordsmen. But whether or not he would consider it a blessing or a curse to be born like this would all depend on how he felt about living a life embroiled in battle and death, because that was the fate of those blessed by the world, especially those blessed by a weapon that was made to kill.

"Can you explain it more clearly and detailed, both about the Law of Yin and the Solerealm Swordsmen? I don't know anything about either."

Yin Long spoke up as Hongzai inspected the newly formed sword with complex emotions, speaking politely and respectfully. She had given a description of Woehowl Swordsmen and Worldheart Swordsmen, but she hadn't said anything about the Solerealm Swordsmen. He also hadn't really read anything about the law of Yin before so he could really be said to not know anything about either, but he was eager to learn.

Hongzai let out a long breath, this was the first time she had encountered a being like Yin Long so she had ever so slightly lost control. He was out of the norm, a being that shouldn't exist. But there he was, sitting in front of her with a somewhat lowered head asking to learn from her. He was blessed by the blade, but he hadn't let it get to his head and was humble, willing to lower his head to learn. And above all, he was determined to suffer like death to learn. If it was him, then perhaps he could achieve what she could not, he may be able to take over for her if she failed. But those were thoughts for the future, things she could consider when she knew more.

"Worldheart Swordsmen accept the world, they dance along with it and embrace it. Woehowl Swordsmen are the opposite, they curse and reject the world, their every move is intended to scrape the world and drive a stake into it, an attempt to break it from its very core. Thanks to these differing ideologies, it is only natural that these two types of swordsmen consider each other enemies, those who reject can never get along with those that accept."

She didn't start the lecture by moving straight onto a new topic, reiterating what she had told Yin Long in the past, albeit in an abbreviated manner. But that was only so that Yin Long would truly understand why the Solerealm Swordsmen stood apart from the two other groups.

"But a Solerealm Swordsman will find no solace with neither the Worldheart Swordsmen nor the Woehowl Swordsmen. He does not reject the world for its cruelty, but he does not accept it and its love. A Solerealm Swordsman can do neither because he is the world, his blade and soul become the world, his every move supplants reality with himself. He does not accept the world so the Worldheart can't get along with him, but he doesn't curse its cruelty and scratch it so the Woehowl also won't accept him. When they cry, they forge a world of pain, when they smile they forge a world of joy, but in all they do, they forge the sole realm of reality that they deem fit to exist."

Worldheart and Woehowl, both were realms that Yin Long could somewhat understand, merging your emotions with the world or using them to sever the world. In theory, he could see it and somewhat understand it. But Solerealm he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Hongzai said it did neither, but if you asked him then it seemed like a Solerealm Swordsman actually did both. He rejected the world because it didn't fit him and then forged a world he could accept, but just how did he go about doing it? He could not understand, but he did not ask his question and continued to listen as Hongzai moved on with her lecture.

"As for the law of Yin, I'm not surprised that you don't know about it. It is the collection of all the cruel and evil things in existence, it embodies negativity so it is far easier to talk about the minor laws that gather to form it. Cold, hatred, pain, corruption, fear, arrogance, sloth, everything that the universe has deemed evil is gathered in it. It's so large that the rare individual that acquires it rarely ever managed to use it in its entirety, it is simply far easier to focus on some of the minor aspects it contains. Let me give you an example, when you fought the beast you brought here, did you find yourself getting stronger than normal, seemingly without explanation?"

The law of Yin was different from the law of space, which could be called somewhat simple due to how 'physical' it was. The law of Yin was almost entirely conceptual and thus much harder to understand. But luckily, Yin Long had someone in front of him who could at least shed a little light on the path for him. He nodded his head slightly, he had indeed found himself getting strangely stronger as he fought the two-headed snake, especially after it wounded him.

"That is the pain aspect of Yin. Just like how a fire cultivator becomes stronger when they fight in an area that suits them, so too do the cultivators of emotion laws become stronger when they are fueled by their specified emotions. If you tap into the pain aspect then you will become stronger as your pain increases, if you tap into the sloth aspect then you will become stronger the less you move, the same is true for fear, arrogance, and the others. But you can also do the opposite, you can tap into the arrogance aspect and send it into your opponent, if their soul is weaker than yours then they will become arrogant without noticing it, revealing flaws because they feel like they've already won. Sloth will make them lazy and weary, fear will make them afraid and cowardly, and pain will wrack them with all the pains of the world."

That was the peculiarity of emotional laws, you became stronger based on your own emotions and actions, and you could even alter the emotions of others. It wasn't as destructive and eye-catching as the elemental laws, but it was far more sinister, and in some cases, dangerous. Hongzai didn't end her description of the law of Yin on its pain aspect by coincidence, she used it as the segue to move onto the next lecture, one that Yin Long hadn't asked about.

"And speaking of pain, let me tell you why I said that you could become a swordsman that had escaped the chains of normal swordsmen. Look, these are my laws."

Hongzai raised her arm as she spoke, three separate streams of energy seeping out from her hand. One looked like normal water, one was almost transparent but carried the distinct scent of the law of swords, and the final one was another transparent law, but looking at this one made Yin Long's eyes sting and his throat clog up.

"Water, Sword, and Pain, these are the three laws that I've dedicated my life to. Tell me, what about these laws do you think is limiting?"

Yin Long's brows furrowed slightly as Hongzai tossed the question to him, his mind going over the three laws. Yin Yu also wracked her brain, but it was mostly just to be active and see if she couldn't pick up something from this lesson. Yin Long went over the three laws for a bit, Hongzai not rushing him and giving him time to come up with an answer.

"If I had to say... maybe the compatibility of the pain? Mixing water and pain to form the pain of thirst will definitely yield great results, but I can't imagine that it'll be as useful to form the pain of starvation."

That was the only answer Yin Long could come up with at the moment, at least for the context that she was asking about when she meant limiting. Another example he could use would be to say that mixing water and pain wouldn't be good to mimic the pain of being burned, but remembering the heat some of her sword moves carried he couldn't bring himself to say it. But it seemed like he had gotten the right answer, Hongzai nodding her head.

"Mostly correct, but it's better to say that it is the compatibility of the emotion that is limited. For each emotion and memory you imbue into your sword, associating an appropriate law with them will increase the strength, ranging from slightly to greatly. That's why my swords of thirst and drowning are composed of water, the law of water is closely tied to thirst and drowning so mixing the two will greatly increase the strength of those attacks. I can also mix my law of swords into my memories to greatly increase the strength of attacks based on the emotion of getting cut or stabbed."

It was a concept that made sense in theory, it was like a sword technique based around a certain law. An example would be the Lang clan's Twin Fangs of the Wolf. It was made with the law of space in mind, but it could theoretically be done with every other law, it would just have different effects based on the law. Ravenous Beast for example would probably become an omnidirectional summoning of fireballs or the like if it was launched using the law of fire.

"But what about attacks imbued with emotions and pains that I don't have an appropriate law for? That sickly warmth you felt in my descending hacks, what sort of law could I possibly imbue into that to increase its strength? The proper answer would be blood or fire, but I have neither, so increasing the strength of those attacks is hard. I'm making do with my law of pain, but my law of pain is far from as good as the pain aspect of Yin. The pain aspect of Yin contains all the world's pain, it is the source of them all so it remembers them all. But for me, I will need to spend years of studying to learn and understand that pain and merge it into my law of pain. That sickly warmth, like blood flowing from your hands and your fingernails cracking? It took me 11 years of studying to truly understand the pain I felt then, and another 3 before I managed to merge it into my own law of pain and thus my blade."

A law that had reached the zenith didn't rest at that realm for no good reason, those who could wield them weren't called heaven's blessed sons for nothing. What took Hongzai 14 years, Yin Long could do by just having the law of Yin, it had already hopped over the border of the unfair. Yin Long listened intently to every word that Hongzai spoke, what she spoke about here would definitely be a great aid to him in the future as he walked further down the path of a swordsman.

"That's why most swordsmen desire the law of Yin or the law of Yang, the emotions within them can become a part of every single blade they can come up with, their every technique can reach a new realm through them. But that new realm, while undoubtedly astounding, still falls short of what you can reach."

Yes, the thing that countless people desired and dreamt of would still not be able to match up to what Yin Long could do, that was the conclusion that Hongzai had reached after seeing his abilities.

"You don't seem to have the law of fire, but what if you use your special ability to form a sword of flames? And what if you use that sword to unleash a technique based on the pain of burning alive, of having your flesh sizzle and pop, your skin curling and crackling? And what if you then also imbue that sword with the pain aspect of Yin, imbue it with the primordial pain of burning? Others may get one of them, some may get two, but you will get all of them. Every pain, every associated element and law, you can grasp all of them. Other swordsmen are limited by their laws and their emotions, but you have no such limits, there isn't a single chain tying you down to any specific style of sword."

No chains held him down, no sword was out of reach, he could even use his ability to replicate the swords and emotions of other swordsmen. Right now he was still extremely weak with a pitiful cultivation realm, but he had room for infinite growth. And above all, he had the determination to chase this infinite growth, and perhaps that was one of the reasons the heavens had blessed him like that.

Hongzai finished her lesson there, a short spell of silence falling over the cavern as she looked at Yin Long. She hadn't forgotten why he had returned to this place, why he still looked like he was just a step away from dying of starvation. And in truth, that sheer determination and sincerity he had shown made even her heart waver. What would he become in the future? What realm would he reach once he got a proper teacher? What sort of monster could be born from him? She wanted to see it, wanted to guide him towards it, but there was still something she knew she had to keep in mind.

"Earlier, I said that I could teach you more if you fulfilled the three conditions I gave you. You have completed all three of them with far greater speed than I ever thought possible. But I must warn you, I have many enemies, you may have already guessed some of them. Learning from me comes with the risk that their gaze may land on you, that their enmity may be directed at you. Think about that, keep it in mind as you think about your next move, come back when you have made your decision."

Teacher for a day, father for life. Many swordsmen, and other stronger cultivators for that matter, held that saying close to their chest, guiding someone down the proper path of cultivation was something everyone would greatly appreciate. But because of how strong those bonds were, it wasn't uncommon to target a disciple if you wanted to get revenge on the teacher, so you had to choose your teacher with care.

But Yin Long didn't even hesitate for a single second as she waved her hand. He moved about a bit so that he could sit on his knees, placing both his fists on the ground as he lowered his head until his forehead touched the ground, rendering Hongzai a bit speechless, and secretly rather content.

"I want to learn, so please, take me under your wing."

"You... Very well, I gave my word so I will not go back on it. Prepare yourself, Yin Long, I will show you the path forward, I hope you can become a sword that not even the endless flood can swallow."