A strange mix of calmness and sadness floated around the room.

Unnoticed by Jian Li and Jian Chen, He Yu had at some point gotten a chair to sit on. After watching the duo talk for a while, she decided to speak up.

"The only thing we can now is to wish for her safe return." He Yu said.

"There must be something we can do!", Jian Chen exclaimed as he looked up at He Yu.

"If there was, then I would have done it already. If we can't find her ourselves, then we should probably leave everything to her.", He Yu stated bluntly without any hesitation.

"What do you mean by leaving things to her?", Jian Chen asked curiously.

"That woman has always been like that since long ago.”, He Yu sighed as she shook her head.

"She will come back one day. Just focus on your training and hope for the best.", she continued.

"Do you really think so?" Jian Chen asked as he looked towards Jian Li who had her head still buried against his chest.

"I know she will.", He Yu said confidently.

"Her kind always finds a way to win in the end.", she said and got up from her seat as she turned to leave.

Jian Li and Jian Chen stayed silent as they watched her walk out of her room. After a moment of silence, Jian Chen put an arm on Jian Li's shoulders as he stood up and nodded to her.

"She's right. We should focus on our training for now. That way, we'll be able to help Ye when she comes back.", Jian Chen said as he smiled at her.

Jian Li returned the smile with tears streaming down her face. She took a deep breath and let it all out before she finally spoke up. "Alright... I understand.", she said.

Jian Chen gave her another reassuring squeeze before he released his hold. He turned back towards the door and left the room. Jian Li laid back down and stared at the ceiling again while wiping the tears off her eyes and nose. She let her thoughts wander as she reminisced about the good times she had with Jian Ye.

"When you cannot change your fate, strive to make the best of it."

---

A lone figure stood under the stars with a dark and gloomy cloud hanging over the area. It looked as if the cloud was trying to devour the entire night sky as its darkness covered the most of the atmosphere.

The figure looked as if it had been standing still for a while and it didn't move a single inch as if it was waiting for something. It wore a pure white robe and held a long thin sword. There were many stains and discoloured patches on the cloth. One of the sleeves of the robe ended at the elbow and the other had been torn off.

There were several scars and bruises all over the figure's body. The figure in white slowly raised its right hand as it looked at the heavens above. It clenched its fist tightly before it began to mutter.

"When you cannot change your fate, strive to make the best of it. If fate decrees that I must die, I’ll strive to be reborn.", the figure in white muttered.

After a few moments had passed, the figures eyes widened slightly as a small silver glow emanated from its hands and it slowly looked around, only to see nothing but darkness.

The silver light dissipated after a while and vanished into thin air as the lone figure stood motionless... waiting, hoping and praying, for something to happen.

---

The sound of birds chirping outside woke Jian Li from her slumber. She felt reinvigorated by the warm sunlight that poured through the window of her bedroom. As soon as she opened her eyes, Jian Li sat up in bed and stretched before getting out of her covers. With the late night visit she had from Jian Chen and He Yu still stuck in in her mind, she attempted to shake it off and start the day off right.

After taking some time to get dressed and fix her hair, Jian Li made sure to eat something before heading out to the courtyard to start training for the day. She made sure to always eat before going out to train so she would not be too distracted during her training sessions.

Jian Li had been training her cultivation nonstop for the past six months. She trained every single day and never missed a session. She was determined to become stronger and faster. She wanted to be ready when Jian Ye came back.

Jian Li tried to clear her mind of negative thoughts and focus only on what she could control. She found out her body was one of those things she had control over. The more she trained, the more powerful and faster she became at wielding her sword even. Unfortunately, her cultivation had not really gotten any higher.

Her father's illness and the vanishing of her eldest sister had taken a toll on her but it did nothing to stop her from practicing martial arts. After all, there were no better ways of relieving stress than through exercise.

She took off running towards the training field for the core disciples as soon as she finished eating breakfast. When she got inside the practice field, she saw many other core disciples already training for themselves. There was an air of competition surrounding them.

Some of the disciples had most likely been there since dawn while Jian Li had started training as late as lunch time. All of them were still going strong though, even if they were looking like they had not slept a wink the night before.

Jian Li was now getting used to seeing all these core disciples around her. Some of them were like her classmates, others had even helped her with her cultivation before. She felt like she was part of a bigger family now that she had met so many new people.

When the core disciples noticed Jian Li entering the training ground, some of them stopped their training to give her an excited look. As Jian Li made her way further in to the training ground, she noticed a small group of them spectating a pair of core disciples that were sparring with each other. One was using a sword whiter than snow while the other wielded a dark spear.