Chapter 66: Growing Up To Be Great
She went on to explain how she didn't want people to know her cultivation prowess in order to leave all of her personalities anonymous. Since Xiao Yue already knew about Bai Fulong and Yan Yan, that made sense for her.
"Had I placed first in the Rising Star Tournament, one of my alters would have probably been chosen by an Elder as a direct disciple, and then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to join three Pavilions at the same time!"
It was then that Shin Sumi recalled a few bits of conversations she had heard when she was roaming around the upper valley market.
"Talking about becoming a direct disciple, I heard a rumor, Yue..." she said with a smile as big as her head.
Xiao Yue blushed, waving her hand like it was nothing.
"It's true then?!! You've become Master Sword's one and only disciple?!"
Xiao Yue didn't contain her excitement anymore. It was definitely news like no others. She had been definitely chosen by the strongest Pavilion master to be his direct disciple!
Not only would she have unlimited backing but she would also have access to the best cultivation resources there were, as well as great techniques that were not passed down to everyone in the Star-Sword Pavilion.
To celebrate, the two girls shared a cup of spirit wine, a pricey beverage that invigorated the soul and made them even happier than they were.
It had been a long time since Shin Sumi and Xiao Yue had leisurely enjoyed the presence of the other. Up until the night was dark around them, they relaxed, laying down on the fresh grass, taking in the sounds and smells of the forest.
They talked about their upcoming plans, for Xiao Yue the master-taking ceremony and for Shin Sumi the triple selection process.
"Do you know which Pavilions you're going to choose?" Xiao Yue asked.
Shin Sumi sighed, "I'm asking myself the same thing. I have a few ideas but the truth is... I don't want to choose. I want to learn all there is to know from all five Pavilions."
"I understand what you mean. It's such a broad world, anything is in theory possible. But the thing is that you, like everyone else, have to have a speciality."
Her interest piqued, Shin Sumi rolled on her side, propping her head on one arm to look at her sister, "What do you mean a speciality?"
"It's something Master Sword has told me. When he saw me, he used his divine sense to see the Shinsoo Doors I had opened. Did you know that you only need ten open Doors to practice cultivation in the Liquid Realm?
Within all sixty four doors, some of them are closely related to each other and some aren't at all. You know that in order to do magic you need to circulate Shinsoo in a specific pattern, right? Well depending on the Doors you have opened, some patterns will always be impossible for you to use.
Because of the limited number of Shinsoo Doors you can use, there's a limited combination of magical techniques possible, that's your speciality."
"So what is yours then, Yue?"
"From the twenty two Doors I can use thanks to the Yin Aperture Shinsoo Awakening technique, Master Sword told me that more than sixteen of them were appropriate for manipulating weapons and following the teachings of the Star-Sword Pavilion!"
Suddenly it all made sense for Shin Sumi. Depending on the Shinsoo Doors a Liquid Realm cultivator had, their path would already be forged the moment he broke through. Despite one's will, sometimes somebody would excel at a domain but be really bad at another one.
"And how do you know which path is the right to take then? What if you have more than one accessible with your set of opened doors? Or... more than three?!"
Xiao Yue's mouth opened for a while but closed without a sound. She wasn't sure what Shin Sumi was talking about. More than three possibilities? That wouldn't even be called a speciality anymore!
"Sumi, how many Shinsoo Doors have you opened?"
Shin Sumi closed her eyes and rolled onto her back. She didn't want to look at her sister's eyes, afraid of what her reaction would be.
"...sixty-four" she let out almost inaudibly.
"......." Xiao Yue's mind went blank immediately. A tsunami of information had crashed into her brain in the least expected way possible.
"SIXTY-FOUR?!!!" she couldn't believe it.
On the side, Shin Sumi grimaced, ready to explain and even apologize to her friend. She was about to open her eyes and face Xiao Yue, already imagining the face of disgust.
But before she could do anything, Shin Sumi felt something soft and warm wrap around her. Xiao Yue was hugging her with all her tender might.
"Sumi, that is amazing. If anybody could do it, that was you for sure. I'm so proud of you!"
"Yue, I-
-How did you manage that? Is it the massage technique?!
-Hmm... Partially. I also stumbled upon great fortune in the tournament... To be honest I don't really know how it happened, I had so much energy inside of me, I thought I would burst open during the fight with Jun Qian and Chu Erlong. It's all thanks to your arrival and you having my back that I could successfully break through without exploding!"
Shin Sumi's lies were only partially true. She had become an expert at lying to her friends, which was in itself a bad and good thing at the same time.
"So now you can join any Pavilion of your choosing?"
"Because of the sword given to me by Fen Wudao, I'm thinking of joining the Star-Sword Pavilion...with you. But since so many people saw me fight using a sword as Bai Fulong, I'll have to use him to get in."
"That leaves you with Yan Yan and yourself. Any idea? Why don't you go to the Cloud-Formation Pavilion? Their techniques are powerful and you'll thrive there!"
"That was my second choice, yes. I think Yan Yan will be perfect there. As for me... I don't want to attract to much attention, so either the Divine-Beast branch or the Shinsoo-Medecine Pavilion."
The two girls pondered the question for a while, both very excited by the other's achievements and the fact that they would be together in the Star-Sword Pavilion. If Shin Sumi managed to get in.
Despite Xiao Yue's gracious offer to talk to Master Sword about Bai Fulong's acceptance in the branch, Shin Sumi wanted to do it by herself.
For her it was a way of showing Fen Wudao and Patriarch Sen her worth, as well as having as many backup plans as possible if ever it turned out that she wasn't cut out for the Ghost Pavilion.
The mysterious hidden sixth branch of the sect, that was even above the Inner Sect formed only of selected disciples chosen by a master, Shin Sumi could not wrap her head around what it could be like.
The next few days passed quickly for Shin Sumi. With an incredible amount of spirit stones at her disposal, she bought a few sets of weapons and explored a bit more around the sect.
Because of the Void Sword's strange nature, she couldn't simply show up at the Star-Sword Pavilion's selections with a sword that had no blade. She even visited the place where she had first met Patriarch Sen in the form of Elder Xi.
As it turned out, both her and the Patriarch were adept at hiding their identities.
Sadly, 'Elder Xi' wasn't there, but Shin Sumi still managed to find a perfectly good sword for Bai Fulong. A very balanced grey blade with a black stone handle.
The new sword, called 'Sky Deception' as the engravings on the hilt revealed, was a very manly looking weapon but strangely it had a soft feel to it.
It wasn't overbearingly Yang typed like the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword had been. A perfect weapon to use as Bai Fulong and as herself.
Unable to decide on one more sword, Shin Sumi bought a whole load of middle grade blades, under the flabbergasted eyes of the disciple in charge of the counter. The sum of spirit stones that Shin Sumi had spent on swords was incredibly high for anyone but to her it was nothing more than disposable income.
And if she didn't have enough, making more was easy. As long as she had one low grade spirit stone left, the nut could turn it into a high grade stone, which she could exchange for more low grade ones and so on.
Having nothing else important to do before the beginning of the selection process for the different Pavilions, Shin Sumi left the upper valley grounds and returned to the lower valley.
The two levels of the sect, one for the Liquid Realm disciples and the other for the Honorary Disciples, were separated by a large cliff in which a tunnel had been carved.
From there, a long straight flight of stairs descended into the ground. The tunnel ended inside a large construction on the edge of the lower valley. A huge set of pillars held a large roof above the hole in the cliff.
Even from her time in the lower valley, Shin Sumi had never noticed the building, which was partially hidden in a forest where Honorary Disciples didn't have access.
What she didn't expect though was that Liquid Realm Disciples either were not allowed to cross between valleys.
"Hold there fellow sister. Who sent you, if I may ask?"
A first step Liquid Realm disciple stopped her right as she was stepping between the stone pillars.
Despite her best attempts at explaining what her intentions were, the disciple didn't let her pass.
"I'm sorry, the rules are the rules. If you try to pass one more time, I'll have to call in a law-enforcement Elder. Since you've just arrived you didn't know, so I'll let it slide this time though.
- But...
- Please don't make it hard for the both of us. You have no idea how terrifying Elder Oyang is, trust me it's best to go back up and leave."
Frustrated, Shin Sumi stomped her foot on the ground.
"How will I be able to get back to the dark chasm?! It's been a year, I need to take care of my crops of Yin type plants!"
She was almost half-way up the stairs when an idea popped into her mind. She had been thinking about calling Fen Wudao for help, being the direct disciple of the Patriarch, surely he would be able to do something. She had even seen him in the lower valley before!
But there was another way...
"Hiding spirit formation!"
Between her breasts, the little nut seemed to approve of Shin Sumi's idea. Maybe it too wanted to go back to the dark chasm, play around with the writhing mass of deadly snakes.
Stopped in the middle of the stairway to the lower valley, Shin Sumi quickly went on to experiment with her hiding formation.
"The only time I've used it was on the training area of my courtyard, on solid ground. But here I can't trace the pattern on the floor..."
Taking out a piece of cloth from the bag of holding at her belt, she laid it flat on a step.
"My old red robes, you can be useful again. Let's see if I can draw it on myself!"
Her idea was to draw the pattern on her dress, making herself hidden at all times while wearing it. Like some sort of invisibility cloak.
Concentrating Shinsoo at the tip of her finger, Shin Sumi started to work the pattern she knew by heart. A few minutes later, the last line was closing in on the first, ending the pattern, when the cloth ripped to shreds under her hand.
"Uh?"
The portions of the robe where her finger had been were now cut open, or rather broken down so finely that only a red dust of strings remained in that place.
"Oh no, it's too much concentrated Shinsoo in one place?! I need something that would withstand the pattern..."
Under the careful eyes of the little nut, Shin Sumi slowly immersed herself in the almost scientific trance that took over whenever she was experimenting.
Every time, it was when the pattern got to completion that the surface on which she was drawing shattered.
The handle of a broken sword splintered immediately. Even the now empty scroll on which the little grey nut had 'stolen' the hiding formation teared apart.
"I don't have any jade slips that I can use... The only things I have are weapons and spirit stones... Wait. That's it!"
The answer was under her eyes the whole time! What could withstand concentrated Shinsoo better than a spirit stone? It was already literally a concentrated piece of solid Shinsoo!
Using the tip of her nail, Shin Sumi put the first spirit stone she could get her hands on really close to her face. The surface was not big so it was relatively hard to draw the pattern.
After a long and laborious process, Shin Sumi held her breath as her nail closed the lines.
She had no idea what would happen if a spirit stone were to explode. All the concentrated energy within the stone would burst into powerful shards. A devastating power this close to her face was definitely dangerous.
But thankfully none of that happened. The stone vibrated lightly, the white color almost fading into a dull grey.
That was proof the hiding formation worked!
The fact that from looks only the stone seemed completely normal was an indicator of success in Shin Sumi's eyes.
Not wasting any more time, Shin Sumi ran down the stairs, right until she was about to enter the pillars building.
Calming her breathing and holding back her divine sense from spreading, she held the spirit formation stone in her hand and walked out silently.
The disciple in charge of keeping the gate between the two valleys was further away. The tension within Shin Sumi and the rhythm of her heartbeats slowly rose as she got closer and closer to him.
From the theory behind hiding formations, Shin Sumi knew that the closer she got to someone, the more chance they had to detect her, especially if they had a higher cultivation level.
Like a shadow, Shin Sumi walked past the disciple, keeping a distance of only five meters between them.
The fear of getting caught had turned the short thirty seconds of her sneaking around into a tantalizingly long experience.
Quickening her pace, Shin Sumi got out of perception range a few seconds later, right when the spirit stone in her hand thrummed and vibrated. The little nut bit her skin with its painful row of teeth, leaving a deep mark on her shoulder.
By reflex, Shin Sumi threw the stone away in the forest right as it exploded. There was almost no sound, the remnant of the hiding power drowning the noise into nothingness, although the energy wave blasted branches and leaves away in an instant.
Her breath cut short, Shin Sumi stood there in shock for quite a long time.
She didn't know that all this time she held a powerful bomb in the palm of her hand!
The footsteps of the Liquid Realm disciple coming in to check what the strange wind was, brought Shin Sumi back to her senses.
Fleeing the scene as quickly as she could, Shin Sumi got away at the last moment.
She arrived at the familiar dark scar in the earth a few minutes later, her speed allowing her to rush across the lower valley like the wind.
Compared to her previous training sessions at the dark ravine, this time Shin Sumi didn't spend any time there at all. With the Copper Bell by her side and her newly augmented divine sense perception range, she could explore every square meter of the ravine in less than ten minutes.
She was even a bit disappointed to find that the rich concentration of Shinsoo she was happy to bathe in previously was in fact not that great. A Honorary Disciple her who had never been to the upper valley had thought that this place was paradise.
Nevertheless, Shin Sumi didn't leave the dark chasm empty handed. After visiting the small Yin type plantation she had left alone, she had quite the spirit plants inventory.
"All my Worm Root Flowers are dead, the Snow Lilies are all dried up," she thought.
Some of the plants had not resisted the passage of time very well, especially considering that nobody had taken care of them but at least the White Cloud Lotus flowers were as beautiful as ever, glimmering with moonlight and a dense Yin type Shinsoo.
There was one single big surprise that made the entire trip worth making, though.
Shin Sumi remembered planting a few Ivory Silk Feather seeds that had never grown. Maybe the conditions weren't right, or maybe they needed more time to grow.
And they did. All the seeds even seemed to have fused into one giant stalk that was now over five meters in height! The white silk dropping from the higher branches draped down over the entire stalk, giving a mystical appearance to the fist sized trunk.
Ivory Silk Feathers usually resembled white feathers planted in the ground, not longer than a forearm at most. Now this single monstrous feather would put to shame even the giant White Crane from the Rising Star Tournament dimension.
Using her Liquid Realm Powers, Shin Sumi didn't have any trouble harvesting the plant, making it fit in her bag of holding easily too.
"So in the end it wasn't a complete waste of time. I even experimented with a type of bomb the world has never seen... Now I should go back to th-"
Shin Sumi stopped frozen. In her hand, a jade slip was vibrating, glowing with a soft light and emanating the divine sense of the Dark Sky Starry Sect's Patriarch.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone