Chapter 14: Celestial Sword Falling Star

“I’m going in now!”
Su Yanwei said to the Sword Sovereign of the Clouds.
“Please keep watch for me, Master!”

After saying that, she skipped and bounced her way toward the gate of the Treasure Armory.

The Sword Sovereign watched her go, then truly stood there to keep watch for her.

Su Yanwei stopped in front of the tightly closed main gate of the Treasure Armory.
She looked at it, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.
With a creaking sound, the door swung inward.

The instant the door opened, countless fierce sword auras erupted at once, shooting directly toward her like a deadly rain of blades.

Su Yanwei froze completely on the spot.
Her limbs stiffened, her blood seemed to freeze, and she couldn’t move an inch.

She was overpowered. Pinned in place.

It was as if countless sharp swords were aimed right at her, their tips gleaming with icy light.

In that moment, she felt the cold glint of those blades, sharp, flashing, and bone-chilling.

This was war.

Ahead of her was a battlefield.

Su Yanwei suddenly understood: what she was stepping into wasn’t just a storeroom of weapons; this wasn’t going to be a simple or easy adventure.
It was a battle.

Two forces facing off.

The Treasure Armory itself was the battlefield Su Yanwei, on one side, against countless famed swords and deadly weapons on the other.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to step forward.

A single, difficult step.

Just this step alone took all the strength she had, her will, her resolve, and her courage.

Her back was already damp with sweat. Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead, nose, and cheeks.
Her pale face was flushed from exertion, yet it made her eyes shine even brighter.

It was as if a fire inside her had ignited burning stronger and brighter with every step.

One step, then two, then three…

Every step was hard, but the further she went, the steadier she became.

The small figure cast a long, stretched shadow behind her under the cold lamplight.

Step by step, she walked into that stern, cold hall of weapons.

When Su Yanwei finally took the last step that brought her fully inside, a gust of wind blew the door shut behind her.
With a loud sound, the great doors of the Treasure Armory closed from the inside.

She now stood within the Treasure Armory itself.

All around her, countless blades and swords watched her in cold, silent judgment.
The night-glow stones embedded in the walls shone with a bright, icy light.
The cold gleam of steel and the light of the stones reflected off each other.

Silent and cold.

That was Su Yanwei’s first impression of the Treasure Armory.

It was as if she were completely surrounded by these blades and swords, all of them so sharp they could easily cut her down where she stood.

If all the swords struck at once, she’d instantly be turned into a bloody sieve.

If it were anyone else, they would surely feel terrified and wouldn’t dare take another step.

But… was Su Yanwei an ordinary person?

Her gaze instantly fell on the very center of the hall, where a single blackish-blue sword was displayed on a tall platform.

Surrounded on all sides by countless other weapons, there was only this single sword placed on the highest pedestal.

All the other swords seemed to be arranged around it.

As though stars orbiting the moon, or ministers bowing before their king.

Su Yanwei’s eyes were drawn to it immediately.
It was an incredibly beautiful sword, even a single glance told you that.

Its entire scabbard was a deep, dark blue. The scabbard was simple and ancient in design, with a restrained, elegant brilliance.
The guard of the sword was a delicate diamond shape, in dark gold.

The blade itself was fully sheathed, unseen.

Yet even just the shape and scabbard alone made it breathtaking.

“So beautiful!”
Su Yanwei couldn’t help but sigh softly.
“Truly worthy of its name Celestial Sword Falling Star, the sword that strikes down the stars.”

The name “Falling Star” came from its legend: the sword that cut down stars from the heavens.

According to legend, this very sword had once cut down a star from the Ninth Heaven, and thus was named Falling Star.
It was a supreme celestial sword.

It had once belonged to the Su family’s ancestor, a sword immortal who ascended to the celestial realm.
Before ascending, the ancestor left the Falling Star Sword behind in the mortal cultivation world, enshrined by the Su family.

The sword had a spirit of its own and would choose its master.

After the ancestor, the Falling Star Sword had successively chosen a few descendants of the Su family as its masters.

Those chosen ones all became sword immortals of extraordinary talent and brilliance, unmatched in their time.

And when each one of them finally completed their cultivation and ascended, they, too, followed the ancestor’s example: leaving the Falling Star Sword behind in the mortal world, in the Su family, to await its next destined master.

But… for the past three hundred years, the Falling Star Sword had not chosen anyone.

Su Yanwei’s father, Su Jingting, had once been highly expected to be chosen as the new master of the Falling Star Sword.
Sadly, he had not received the sword’s approval.

For the Su family, having no new master for the Falling Star Sword for so long was a terrifying and ominous thing.

They desperately wanted to find the next child of the Su family who could inherit it.
Only the sword’s chosen master, they believed, could lead the family to even greater heights.

Once, they placed all their hopes on Su Jingting.

Later, they pinned those hopes on his child.

Now, they were already placing their hopes on Su Yanwei’s future children.

They had completely skipped over Su Yanwei herself.

As the one who had been “skipped over,” Su Yanwei couldn’t help feeling rather insulted.

Su Yanwei, herself, had little interest in the Falling Star Sword.
Though she had grown up listening to stories of her ancestor and all the sword immortals before her and in those stories, the Falling Star Sword was always the sharpest blade, the closest companion, the sword that struck down stars in the heavens: so powerful, graceful, and romantic.

She admired and respected her ancestors, and she honored the celestial sword that had followed them through so many battles and legends.

But she did not agree with what the Su family believed: that the sword’s choice was everything that only those chosen by the Falling Star Sword were worthy, and everyone else had no value, unworthy even of notice, and could be discarded.

In her heart, Su Yanwei believed that swords and sword cultivators accomplished each other.

It wasn’t only that a sword chose its master, it was also the person who chose the sword.
Between them was resonance.

Those not chosen weren’t worthless; perhaps they simply weren’t the right match.

And she also didn’t believe a family’s prosperity should rely solely on one person.

Su Yanwei stood in the cold Treasure Armory, quietly looking up at the Falling Star Sword placed so high on the pedestal.

She thought of many things.

Every child of the Su family, upon reaching age twelve and awakening their spiritual power, could enter the Treasure Armory once to choose a sword.
If nothing unexpected happened, in two years, Su Yanwei herself would have been able to come here to take home a sword of her own.

But she had chosen to give all that up and leave the Su family.

Did she regret it?

No.

Su Yanwei realized: something she had looked forward to for so long, now that she had given it up, it wasn’t as heartbreaking as she had imagined.

She knew she would eventually have her own sword, the one that resonated with her.

There was nothing to feel sad or regretful about.

She gazed for a while at the Falling Star Sword, fulfilling the wish she had carried since she was a little girl.

Satisfied, Su Yanwei turned and prepared to leave.

She hadn’t forgotten, she was still in the middle of running away from home!

But just as Su Yanwei turned around, the Falling Star Sword, which had lain silent on its pedestal for three hundred years suddenly moved.

It flew straight into the air, shooting directly toward Su Yanwei as she walked away.

She heard a sharp rush of wind behind her, as if something powerful was coming at her.

An attack!

Instinctively, Su Yanwei spun around and raised her hand to block.

But instead of being struck down, something cold and heavy landed firmly against the back of her hand.

It was the Falling Star Sword.